A Full Circle
by Garfield71
Summary: It all started at this crash site. With the spiky haired indie rocker guy I saw there, wearing that long brown coat...at that moment not even in my wildest fantasies I could have imagined what was going to happen then. 10/OC pairing. No slash.
1. Chapter 1

Hi BBC

I borrowed the Doctor for a short ride, and swear, I will return him unharmed :-))

Hi readers,

This is my first attempt to write fan fiction, and to write in English language. I am not a native English speaker and really HOPE my grasp of language is not too horrible. No idea how bad it really is. If you want to beta read following chapters, please contact me, you are most welcome!

But if not, please give it a try and give me feedback, what to improve. (I am very willing to try..)

I write this story from the viewpoint of some OC, a guy who happens to stumble into the Doctor and let him tell the story.... It is set somewhen between The Next Doctor and Planet of the Dead, when our Doctor is travelling alone. I have plans for one or two sequels too.

Chapter 1

Spaceship in the morning...

* * *

When I look back, this weird story started on one of these completely ordinary, inconspicuous, wet May days in London. One of these mornings you desperately want to stay in bed when the alarm clock rings much too early. And be assured, sometimes it could make your life a lot easier if you just followed that impulse of blissful stupor, ignored the call of duty and overslept. As the saying goes, ignorance is bliss. But if you saw it from a different angle, it could make your life also a whole lot more boring.

It was not an alarm clock that woke me up this Tuesday morning, back in 2009. It was the ringing of my cell phone. I grasped for the light switch and cursed it.

It was of course my boss, Mr. Turner. The moody managing editor of the magazine I worked for. My first employment since I had left university, a little less then two years ago. He called at 5 o'clock in the morning. Despite the fact that I had been working really late the night before. There had been an important international conference of virologists about the dangers of an influenza pandemia. Alarming stuff actually, and it was my job to turn the results of that conference into an article.

I let the phone ring a few times, then had no choice. I picked it up. This time, I had decided to refuse any orders to come to the office in five minutes, instantly or half an hour ago. I wanted at least some coffee and a decent breakfast!

„David? Is it you?" Idiot! Of course it was me! He shouted into the speaker, as usual. A certain tone in his voice made my fantasies about breakfast crumble.

„Listen, we just had an alien spaceship crash landing and of the team, you live closest."

This news was better then caffeine. A spaceship crash landing in London! I was electrified, sleep or breakfast forgotten.

„Where? Near Norbury Park. Into a post office. There are casualties."

Into a post office. Imagine that! At 4 o clock in the morning..... I hastily scribbled the address onto some paper while he continued haranguing me. An alien crash landing was lot more interesting then some of my other work, as a junior scientific journalist. At least if you had a boss like Mr. Turner.

Aliens and spaceships had become somewhat habitual around London and worldwide lately. Too habitual for my taste, after the Big Ben crash landing, the ghost invasion and a few other nasty incidents. It worried me, it seemed just a matter of time, sooner or later humanity wouldn't get off as cheaply as so far from these encounters. I reckoned that massive police forces sealed off the whole area, along with the army, the UK division of UNIT, and more secretive „specialists" like Torchwood. But in the chaos of an evacuation I might be able to get a closer look at it and maybe a good interview or two.

Definitely this was not everyday business. Unless of course it was a hoax, a gas explosion, some incompetent terrorist had forgotten his gps receiver. Or the toilet seat of an old soviet space station had crashed into the post office. The silly thought of the pilot episode to one of my favourite tv series crossed my mind....

So I leaped out of my cosy bed, jumped into my suit, and looked into the bathroom mirror. When I had tamed my brown curls sufficiently, shaved at record speed and was somewhat refreshed by cold water I grabbed photo- and interview equipment. A short trip to my rather dirty kitchen, where I made myself some sandwiches and took the next best bottle with a non alcoholic beverage I could find from the fridge. Mineral water. Well, not the first choice, but it had to do.... At least I was well earlier then the rush hour. In the dark I hurried through the drizzle to my shabby old car. It took me only about twenty minutes of really hazardous driving, eating my sandwich and listening to some ACDC and the latest radio news on the event on the way.

I found a parking space at a some distance to a road barricade. The police was evacuating in a wide area. I fixed the press badge to my black coat, picked up my knapsack from the back seat, raincoat and umbrella and sighed. I had to do my best to look inconspicuous. At alien events the officials usually reacted highly allergic to press, freedom of press didn't mean much to them, as some colleagues had already learned the hard way...

Helicopters with searchlights circled in the air , police cars patrolled, loudspeakers requesting the inhabitants to leave the area. Their sirens seemed to intend waking up even the inhabitants of the district cemetery for evacuation. With other words, chaos as usual, as it could be expected at any average disaster site.

A lot of people were fleeing the area, in their cars and on foot, but it was amazing what crowds the rumour of a UFO crash landing could draw. Even that early on a rainy morning.

In the darkness, a mob of religious fanatics, alien haters equipped with banners, souvenir hunters and the unavoidable, common, blood thirsty rubberneck you found blocking the roads at any average traffic accident gathered.

I got through the first police post, thanks to my press badge. They were clearly overchallenged with the size of their task, doing their very best to turn chaos into an orderly evacuation. I continued my way and must have been quite close to the site about 20 minutes later. I approached a line of fences, the spaceship, or whatever it was, still out of sight. The police officers there were more resembling fierce army guard dogs, armed to the teeth, then your everyday bobby. And they were adamant in refusing me passage, threatening to arrest me or drag me away by force if I did not leave the area voluntarily. I could not argue with that, I had to change my strategy.

I spotted a nearby office building with a flat roof, that seemed to offer a chance to get a good view, and sprinted across the street. The doors were open. But the elevator was out of order so I hurried up the staircase.

In the first grey of the dawn I arrived up at the roof, out of breath. The view from the lofty heights up there was indeed fabulous,

The edge of the building was about 600 yards from the crash site, a few other spectators had already gathered there. It was indeed a spaceship down there, in the distance. A dirty white, battered, oddly banana shaped structure. So that was what a real alien spaceship looked like. I found the design really interesting. It wasn't huge, only about the size of the NASA space shuttles, or slightly bigger, I estimated. Part of it stuck out of the rubble heap that once had been a post office building. It must have made an almost controlled landing, otherwise whatever powered it would probably have turned half of London into a smoking crater!

Fortunately at that time, the building had been almost empty, the crash should not have killed too many people . I didn't want to imagine what would have happened if it had crashed into an old peoples home, or Piccadilly Circus in the afternoon.

I got the binoculars and my camera with the telephoto out to get a better view and take some nice shots. What I could see down there is, that the injured people my boss had talked about were already evacuated and the spacious road junction down there was not very crowded. I bent down and brought my camera into position. In the glare of floodlight soldiers were building up large tents, unloading supplies from trucks on the east side of the site. They had already covered part of the wreck with green plastic foil, so I couldn't see what they were doing there. An ambulance crew was hanging out at the other side of the street. I observed some skinny civilian guy in a long brown coat approaching the barrier. In stark contrast to the other people working there, he looked more like the latest generation of wannabe cool indie rock musicians then an official. He showed a passport and he was let in. But did not approach the wreck immediately. Unlike the busy soldiers and scientists in lab coats, he was just looking around as if he hoped to spot something more interesting, invisible.

The drizzle had stopped. This was indeed an excellent place for my work and I was looking forward to a really interesting morning. Now I just needed the small folding chair to make myself more comfortable and to finish the rest of my breakfast. I turned to my bag.

Then my heart stopped. Gripped by some strange force I lost balance.

I stumbled, tipped over the edge of the roof. And fell. I screamed my lungs out in panic and then hit the ground. Hard? No, actually not hard at all.

I touched my face. Wait. I could touch my face. According to every law of physics that I knew of, I was a dead man. But I was still breathing! I felt a little dizzy and bemused, but that was it. Apart from my elbow, which reported some minor pain, I felt quite in whole. Definitely not dead!

Or did dead feel like this?

I looked up, and saw the ambulance crew racing in my direction. They jumped me and I had a very hard time to convince them that I was all right. No, nothing broken. Yes, shocked. But no shock! Really, just a few bruises. Everything else okay. REALLY! NO!

The head of the spiky haired indie rocker suddenly appeared over the busy crowd of medics, a pair of curious eyes in a freckled face trained on me.

He held out some kind of pen with a radiant blue tip, expression suddenly turning very grave. Then looked back at the wreck, shouted at the top of his lungs „ ALL GET DOWN" and threw himself to the ground.

I covered my head. The explosion that followed an instant later was deafening and sent a shock wave over the place. Rubble rained down on us. We'd been in relatively safe distance. Nothing really big hit me. But I heard the screams of injured people who had worked near the spaceship and who had gotten the full blast. A complete chaos of shouting, sirens and vehicles broke loose.

When I looked up, there was no more floodlight. The dust settled in the gloomy first light of the morning. The medics were on the way to help, where the explosion had caused a small inferno.

Next to me the indie rock guy was sitting on the ground, brushing dust and sand from his face and suit. He looked at me and must have noticed how puzzled I was.

„Gravity generator went up. Sent ripples all over the place when it became unstable, just before it exploded. Made you fall. Take it easy now!"

Then he took no more notice of me, got up, heading to the crash site.

There went my one chance to get informations out of what seemed a competent person!

„Wait!" I got to my feet as fast as I could and ran after him „Can you give me an interview?"

He stopped dead and turned around, suddenly looking seriously pissed off.

„WHAT?!?"

Gaze wandering to my press badge and obviously regretting his chattyness, he pointed a menacing finger at me. „ YOU stay exactly where you are. This here is none of your business. You press people don't dare bother me." He then pointed his pen at me. I half expected that now his pen would zap and I lost memory of everything that had just happened. But it didn't. Instead it gave an odd whirring and my camera made a small crunching noise.

He turned, picked up a torch he found lying on the ground, checked it and hurried through all the screaming and shouting, the wounded and medical teams, over to the east side, where the force of the explosion had ripped open the hull of the spaceship.

I checked my camera. Dead. Not NOW. Some really X rated thoughts crossed my mind..... I checked my cell phone. Dead too.

But my professional curiosity had taken over. Probably this guy was from Torchwood or UNIT. I decided not to let go of this once in a lifetime occasion for a story. In all the chaos nobody took much notice of me when I followed the man in some distance. I saw him switching on the torch, then he climbed into the serrated hole the explosion had blasted into the hull of the ship, nearly ripping it apart.

I hurried to get there, too. An actual alien spaceship! From a civilisation who knew where in the universe! I stroked over the strange material of the hull with my fingertip, holding my breath in awe.

Then I peeked into the hole. I saw the guy working frantically at some parts of it's machinery in the light of the torch. When he wasn't holding his pen, which was obviously some kind of tool between his teeth, he was absorbed in a manic and completely freakish monologue, occasionally insulting the damaged craft. The whole place was splattered with green goo.

I inched into the ravaged shuttle and spotted a cavern where I could kneel down and watch this surreal scene unnoticed.

At least that was my plan until a crunching noise under my foot ruined it. The guy turned and locked his gaze on me. I got up, holding my breath.

„Don't touch those.." He shouted, when suddenly a batch of green slime dropped from the ceiling right onto my head, burning on my skin like fire. Reflexively I wiped it out of my face, my elbow knocking painfully into something hard behind me. And suddenly I was drowned in ice cold blackness.

When the sensation ebbed away I was not in the wreck anymore. And in a state of utter shock. I was standing on a platform in a dimly lit, square, alien looking room, shaking violently. I was surrounded by grey metal walls, covered with almost organic looking structures, the same as in the shuttle wreck, just these were whole. The cool, moist air had a smell that turned my stomach.

Just a moment later, like out of thin air the indie rocker alien expert appeared right next to me. I was so glad that I was no longer the only human, alone in this strange place.

„Don't touch those instruments behind you" with a frown he finished the sentence he had begun in the shuttle wreck, glaring at me. „Well, that's obsolete now, isn't it..." He raised an eyebrow.

Then turned, checked some panels, quickly and professionally, like somebody who didn't have any time to lose. That gave me the opportunity to wipe the rest of the stinging goo from my head with the end of my coat and compose myself. Some moments later he turned back to me, now obviously trying to assess how I responded to all this.

„Okay. We got teleported here, thanks to your carelessness. You triggered the emergency teleport of the shuttle. Now this is the mother ship. And as far as I can see something is very wrong with it"

He ignored my bewilderment, piercing me with his stare, and continued more stern, „It's Rutan. Really not the most friendly species in the galaxy. The teleport field is exhausted. And judging the damage, it takes at least ten minutes to built up again, until then it'll not transport anyone. So no chance to get you back down now. I'm just saying this once! You will stay with me. You don't touch anything. You don't talk or do anything else that I might consider stupid. Control your curiosity. And most of all, if I order you to do something, you do it. Instantly. Is that clear!"

I nodded, quite intimidated, asking myself if I was still allowed to breathe.

He grabbed the press badge dangling from my coat, „Right then Mr...." he took a closer look at it, „David Barnham...."

Surprise in his eyes, his gaze wandered to my face, then back to the press badge." Your name is David Barnham?" He straightened himself. I nodded.

„How very curious .... "

I stared back at him, dumbfounded „Is anything wrong with me? Have we met before?" I asked him, confused, that in this unlikely place suddenly this guy found me a lot more interesting then the fact that we just had gotten transported onto a bloody alien spacecraft.

„Oh.. ah... no. Not at all, anyway... we don't have time for this now. Sorry!" He snapped back to his usual self as if nothing had just happened. Then went on with much more benign voice, looking into my eyes. He waved a hand gesturing at our surrounding. „Just trust me, David. I'm not completely inexperienced at this. I'm the Doctor, by the way."

„Doctor..... " He brusquely cut short what was meant to become a question, rolling his eyes.

„Oh no! Here we go! Not the pesky discussion again! It's the Doctor. JUST the Doctor. Now follow me."

With that he cautiously stepped into a dusky, tube like corridor. At the far end it seemed to open up into something that looked like a hall.

Apart from his eccentric behaviour this guy gave me the impression he knew what he was doing. So I did as I was told. I followed him and painstakingly avoided to touch anything.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Strange Doctors

* * *

So we made our way down the corridor, to the hall, that turned out to be some kind of bridge. In the center, we found a green blob sitting on a conning tower. An alien! It dawned on me, that the green goo from the shuttle, that had dripped onto my head had actually been the remains of it's dead pilot. I was not sure anymore if my breakfast wanted to stay where it belonged, but I didn't want to throw up in front of this Doctor figure onto the deck of an alien spacecraft either. So I fought to get the disgusting impulse under control. The Doctor, standing next to me opened his mouth. But what he uttered was not some welcome to the alien visitors in any earth language. It was a series of clicks and hisses, accentuated by occasional slurping. The mouthless green blob answered, and the two of them had the most bizarre und unlikely of conversations.

He went over to something that looked like a console, bent over it and applied his tool to it. It took him a little time to get it to work. A badly flickering image with what seemed to be alien script that appeared in the air above the console. Moments later he was absorbed into the obviously interesting reading. This was completely and utterly too much for me and I addressed him, the order not to talk completely forgotten.

"You just had a chat with that green THING in this weird language. And you can read that script! How do you come to speak an alien language? How did you call it? Rutan?"

Reluctantly he broke away from the holographic screen and eyed me inquisitively, "Erm.. Did I?" He cocked his head slightly.. " Hm..... Tell me, what did it sound like?" He asked curiously, turning back to the holography.

He really annoyed me with his silly question. As if he didn't know, what he had just talked to the alien! "Well... It sounded like a bunch of snakes fencing with chopsticks along with kids in a fast food restaurant..."

"Really? Did it? Interesting!" was all he replied, along with a boyish grin in my direction.

"Listen, what's going on here? You're from Torchwood, right? What has the government going on with aliens!"

"Oh... Very, very long story but here is the shortest possible version of the first question" He replied, still examining the text in front of him, now dead serious "Okay. You remember the Atmos affair some time ago? That was the Sontarans trying to take over earth." He completely ignored my bewilderment at this statement, "We could stop them of course. And UNIT has been covering it up quite well. Now the Rutans here have this tiny little war going on with the Sontarans, they are monitoring Sontaran activities. So they sent this scout ship to find out what the Sontarans were doing here. The Sontarans on the other hand anticipated that and left a kind of anti Rutan torpedo in the solar system to make sure, if they wouldn't get earth, the Rutans didn't get it either. That torpedo was armed with nanobots that took over the Rutan computer system and a biological weapon to attack the crew. Now, the Rutan captain could stop the infections, but the nanobots set the ship onto a collision course with the nearest stellar object. And the Rutan crew is mostly alive but in no state to do anything about it. So: There is no more time for the who-are-you part of your question. I need your help here. Now. The nearest stellar object happens to be earth. So we can have a chat later, can we?"

He turned to another console, leaving me to my struggle to digest all this madness. He managed to call up a file that projected a three dimensional map of the ship. He turned to me to make sure that he had my attention and then pointed at one spot in the hologram. "See? We're here". Then he pointed to a structure at one end of the map that took almost half of the length of the ship. "This is the engine, a fusion core. Here is the main computer room. You have to disable the damaged computer so that I can get control over the engines manually."

"What, me!" I gasped!

"Yeah! You see anybody else? We have maybe 25 minutes to point of no return. Probably no time for me to do both" He held my gaze, eyebrows furrowed, while I took a deep breath. This was a nightmare! It had to be! I desperately wanted to wake up from it. But the Doctor just took me by the arm and then shoved me vigorously back into the corridor. Needlessly to say, I didn't wake up.

"Come on, follow me, no time to loose!" He shouted and then ran down the corridor, coat tails flying. I tried my best to keep up with him, skidding on the slimy metal floor. Obviously he had more practice at this then me, I hadn't been much of the field type of journalist so far. We passed by a few crossroads, reached the upper decks of the ship over a system of ramps and stopped at another crossroad, panting. I hesitated when he shoved his small, pen like tool into my hands.

„Sonic Screwdriver. I love my Sonic Screwdriver, take good care of it!" He shot a scrutinizing glance at me when he handed me his treasured tool, and then showed me how to switch it over. „See? Set 28 knocks out the computer panels. 15 should pick the locks. Just press the button and point at it. The computer control room is in that direction, as you have seen on the ship's map. As soon as you have disabled any infested electronic controls I'll switch the engines on manual and change course. You remember the way to the computer room I showed you on the map?"

I nodded uncertainly. „Listen, this is really important. If it doesn't work we are dead, really dead. Capital D. And with us far more then a few million people down there." He oddly pointed somewhere to the ceiling, along with "down there". "Have you ever seen a big fusion core blow up in an atmosphere? No? Well, I have. So if you care to prevent another mass extinction event on earth, say like the one 65 million years ago, I need your help. Now!"

I swallowed hard. No objection against working under pressure...... In those Hollywood movies it always looked so easy and cool when guys like Bruce Willis or Keanu Reeves saved earth.... I was just scared stiff.

Seeing me hesitate, the Doctor shouted „just HURRY!" at me and when he saw that this confused me even more, he continued empathic and much more more encouraging, „I know you can do it! Go!" Then he vanished down the corridor.

The cool metal of the sonic screwdriver heavy in my hand, I made my way to what I hoped was the computer room. Pointed it at what looked like a door lock. Pressed the button. The round door opened. I gained a little more self confidence. Changed the set of the little tool and started to fire it at what looked like very odd, knobbly wall decorations which subsequently started to produce spitting noises and spray sparks violently all over the place. I had done what I guessed two third of them when one blew up with a particularly nasty explosion. I clung desperately to the sonic screwdriver when I staggered back and lost balance.

The lights went out and a siren howled through the ship. I tried to adjust my vision to the faint emergency lights and got up. In the adrenaline rushed frenzy of the shock I knocked out the rest of the control panels, then stuffed the sonic screwdriver into a pocket, uncertain what to do. I yelled quite unheroically, when suddenly, with the alarm, the gravity was gone and I started to float. A moment later it kicked in again and sent me sprawled to the floor, gasping for breath. I took it as a sign that the Doctor had managed to get control over the engines. At least I assumed he had. I just lay there, on the disgustingly slimy floor, bruised and battered, but so relieved. For a short while. Hoping it was over now.

But it wasn't. When I tried to get up, the room started spinning around me. I was so dizzy that I had to sit down again. Then I looked at my hands and noticed with growing horror, that my vision had started to blur. Shit! This definitely hadn't been part of the plan!

I crawled to the door and shouted for the Doctor, praying he could hear me. After some time he came dashing down the corridor and dropped to his knees next to me. "David! What's wrong with you?"

I stuttered something like „Explosion, fell, everything blurred, dizzy". He checked my head for wounds, when he found none, he carefully took my head with both hands and made me look into his eyes. Then he grabbed my hands and squeezed them.

„They start to feel numb? Any pain? Can you feel your legs?"

„Feels like ants running through my hands and feet."

„You are hot and cold, too? Shivering?"

I nodded miserably. He looked up to the exploded control panel and frowned.

„What's wrong with me? Please! Help me!"

He turned back to me, ran a hand through his hair „It's a kind of radiation poisoning. From that explosion. Damned Rutan technology. Looks like your nervous system is failing. You need treatment. Fast."

He stood up and grabbed my arm. "Come on, we need to get you to a hospital, I can't treat that."

I was scared. Scared to death, but the Doctor didn't give me any time to worry about my fate. He vigorously pulled me to my feet, I leaned heavily on him when we stumbled back to the bridge, where he shouted at the Rutan captain in that strange language. It sounded like a very rude farewell.

Then he dragged me to the teleport field where I got hold of some rail. He started working on the teleport controls while my vision failed more and more, leaving me blind as a mole, shaking, utterly terrified. Searing pain started spreading through my body like red hot needles driven mercilessly into my flesh. I yelped, when the Doctor took me by the arm, suddenly the breathtaking chill of the teleport caught us, and dropped us again just one seemingly endless moment later.

He swore, doing his best to support me while he was busy with one hand.

„Careful, the doorstep" He dragged me on a few more steps, then I stumbled and he caught my fall. „Help me! I don't want to die" was all I was able utter with a feeble croak.

I heard his voice somewhere close to my ears, felt his hand on my back, „you just don't worry. I'll be back."

He sprang to his feet and left me there, chills and nausea starting to overwhelm me. I just lay there, gasping for air as breathing became difficult, convinced, that this was the end. My end. Then, suddenly an eerie grinding and howling noise filled the place, the Doctor came back to me, covered me with blankets.

„Hold on, not long now. We're almost there. Don't you start worrying about death, ey?."

He cradled my head in his lap, holding me tightly, when the place started to shake with the violence of an earthquake. It can't have been more then a few minutes but it felt like agonizing eternity.

When the noise died away, and gave way to an aggressive ringing in my ears he got to his feet again. I heard shouting and moments later heavy footsteps approached the place, where I lay on the floor. I screamed in pain when some hands examined me and then lifted me up and put me on something, a stretcher probably.... Then they must have given me some medication, the pain and panic died down and were replaced by a vague floating sensation. The Doctor still held my hand, talking to me, when they were laying me onto something hard. I couldn't understand what he said, I was just glad that he was there, not leaving me alone. Then I passed out.

When I woke up there was still pain. But not unbearable. I blinked. The ceiling was too white and the lights of the lamp above me hurt my eyes. I saw blurred double images of them and felt dazed and strange. And I was apparently naked, covered only by a blanket.

I blinked again and the image got clearer. I vaguely remembered what had happened. Being not in mortal agony and able to see was definitely an improvement.

With some effort, I turned my head and to my left, there was an affectionately smiling double Doctor sitting in a chair, watching me.

„Welcome back among the living, David!" he greeted me merrily.

I tried to reply but couldn't get out any sound at all and bit on something hard.

„Easy, don't try to talk, you've got a tube down your windpipe, for breathing. You're in hospital. You remember, what happened, hm?"

With a shaky hand I grasped for the annoying thing in my mouth, but the Doctor caught my arm.

„No, don't. You still need it. Now relax. I promised the staff that you stay reasonable and they don't need to restrain you."

I was much too weak for substantial resistance anyway, so I did as he told me. I noticed how the respiratory machine helped pressing air into my lungs, every time I breathed in. I didn't like the sensation at all. But I let it happen. Somehow I couldn't do much about it.

„Yes, that's better!" He took my hand, and beamed down at me. "You did a great job, on the Rutan spaceship. Course is changed, earth is safe. Couldn't have done it without you! Now we just need to get you back on your feet and everything will be just fine."

In my pain I had completely forgotten about that. I was relieved to hear that I had just helped to prevent the imminent destruction of life on earth! This weird guy had something unnerving about him that made it hard to decide. Either to just like and trust him. Or to make me wish, I could turn on my heels and run away from him as far as possible. And never look back. Possibly the second was the more reasonable choice. Which of course I didn't have anymore.

He continued, „You just had two days in the reactor, to heal your nervous system. The machine at your feet. See?" He pointed there. „And you'll need more time in it. They just took you out for a quick examination, to adjust the treatment."

I glanced at where the Doctor had pointed. There was a massive ringlike structure instead of a wall at my feet, with what looked like a tube the size of a man in the centre. The claustrophobic part of me cringed at the sight. It reminded me of a ct machine. But bigger. I had never seen anything like it, it looked alien! I grasped the Doctor's hand harder. Where was I!

That moment another face appeared in my field of vision. It looked like,....just a moment... this couldn't be.....or could it?.... a cat. A cat faced humanoid! Wherever I was, this place was not earth! I stared at the Doctor in sheer panic and tried to sit up. He looked like he had anticipated my reaction, just returned me a very patronizing smile, gripped me by the shoulders and held me down.

"It's okay! Don't panic! You're not on earth. And she's not exactly human, but she's going to help you. You trust me?" The gaze of these deep, brown eyes had something almost hypnotically intense, I gave him weak nod and grasped for his hand.

„I am Doctor Halys, responsible for your treatment." The odd creature introduced herself. She showed me the small instrument, she was holding and then fixed it to the back of my neck. I shuddered at the touch of her warm, furry hand „I'll do some testing on your nervous system now. It will tickle, and might make you twitch. Don't be afraid."

The grey cat spoke! English! So there were aliens speaking English out there. Good heavens! The thought was really silly, and if I had been able to, I would have probably giggled hysterically. Was I now hallucinating? I stared at the Doctor, but he just returned me an unnervingly encouraging grin. As if all this was perfectly normal and every day business.

She did her work. It was a lot more unpleasant then I could have anticipated from her little speech. Like electricity surging through my body. Physicians universally seemed to downplay the nasty effects of their treatments! At home I dreaded even to visit the dentist. Hadn't seen one in years, after a particularly unpleasant session. And here I was, helplessly at the mercy of this! The Doctor just laid a gentle hand on my chest and I closed my eyes until Dr. Halys had finished the awful procedure. He seemed to sense the squadron of question marks floating through my mind, and looked at me calculating, as if he considered how much I could take in my current state.

„You don't appreciate all this very much, ah? So sorry for the shock. But if I hadn't brought you here, you'd be dead by now. This place is Mercy Hospital, New New York. Nice place, by the way, New New York! One of my absolute favourites!"

He was kidding me! I must have been hallucinating! Cats in New New York! Hadn't there been a musical starring talking cats on Broadway? I found green tentacly aliens on a spaceship somehow acceptable because it fit into general human prejudice about alien life forms. But this story started getting more and more absurd. This was a dream. Or a very bad practical joke! It had to be! I made another, more desperate attempt to talk, but the Doctor gently stopped my efforts.

„Ssssh, don't! Here you get the best medical treatment for homo sapiens and derivate species in the whole galaxy. Really! No better place to treat your poisoning. Just trust me and relax! And the good thing is, you do not even have to pay for it. Because they owe me.."

He grinned from ear to ear. But I must have looked at him quite disturbed. When he saw, that his joke didn't have the desired effect at all, he continued.

„Yes, never mind. There's nothing to worry about this place at all! Or the sisters of perpetual indulgence, the cat people running this place. Or space travel. You also wonder, that you can understand Doctor Halys, do you? That's my Tardis linking into your brain. It's not dangerous or something. Just a telepathic field. Same thing that made me talk Rutan. She actually doesn't speak English, you just hear it that way. Enjoy the service. Makes life and travelling a lot easier."

I found the idea of telepathic fields in my brain not so very attractive. How much more of this freak stuff was going to come! But he gave me his most reassuring smile and continued: "I understand. It's very strange and frightening for you. I'll answer your questions. When you are better. When you can talk. Okay?"

He looked up and exchanged a few words with somebody out of the range of my vision.

„There's some important business that can't wait. I have to leave. But I'll be back in a few days. We can do some sightseeing here, when you are back on your feet. Interesting architecture, a great opera and huge museums for intergalactic art and cultures. Really the best, and the food is excellent, too. You'll see, you'll like it. Now don't worry, relax and get better"

I was somewhere between fascination and horror. Sightseeing on an alien planet! By the way, I hate opera. But all the rest... what a chance! On the other hand, being left alone, at the mercy of these cats! I clutched the Doctor's hand harder.

„No, no, they are really very nice and friendly and all. Dr Halys will take good care for you. Nothing dangerous here. You'll see. And I'll be back soon. I do not want you to worry!" There was a firm note to his voice, not unlike a father gently scolding a child. He freed himself from my grasp, made me lie quiet and then got up.

He and the cat doctor exchanged greetings, he waved me a cheerful goodbye and off he was. Leaving me behind. Alone.

The cat with the name Doctor Halys reappeared, looking benevolently down at me.

„I'm pleased to tell you, that the readings are very promising! You need one more week in the reactor, and with physiotherapy, exercise and rest, you'll make a full recovery" , she declared. I shrugged when she affectionately patted my arm, then she was busy with some of the consoles at my head.

Great! This sounded really good! So this was the result of my last two and a half days in the line of duty of journalism. Earth was saved. What a relief. But my life would have been a lot safer if I hadn't given in to my stupid curiosity! Surely somebody else could have helped out this Doctor on the Rutan spaceship if I hadn't been forced to do it! Surely also, a lot of UNIT people were much better qualified for the job.

If I had just continued the physicist career instead of quitting it in favour of journalism. I'd work in some nice and safe institute now..... Instead of this, getting myself teleported onto a spaceship with green jelly aliens, having to save a few billion people, including myself, getting a deadly dose of poison, being transported to a planet with the weird name „New New York", get fiddled around in my brain by who know what, and being locked up in that machine by catwoman. And being patronized and then left alone by the Doctor. Whoever HE was. Maybe I had to hitchhike home if he didn't show up again. I still had problems to believe all that, despite the hard facts that I could see. If I made it home, I decided to demand a hazard bonus from my boss. If I ever saw him again. Or my family. Back home sometimes I had wished to send my mom to mars with the next possible mission. One way ticket. Now my screwed up family was light years away and I started to miss them. I was feeling very lonely in this suddenly too big universe.

I lost myself in angsty thoughts and an unhealthy dose of self pity, then catwoman returned and a moment later I blacked out.

When reality faded in next time, I didn't see anything double!

I could swallow, too. I cleared my throat. No more tube! I moved a hand. Shaky. But no pain. And I was not naked anymore but wearing some kind of beige jogging suit! I found myself in bed, in a spacious apartment. What caught my eye first was the huge windows, that gave me a panoramic view out to a vast blue sky, dotted with a few white clouds, the most amazing skyline of exotic skyscrapers and flying vehicles. Flying vehicles? That was odd!

Alien!

Right. I remembered: Spaceship. The Doctor. Saving earth. Hospital. So this city out there must be the New New York he'd been talking about!

I jumped at a strange sound. With a low hiss an automatic slide door opened. In an absurd way it sounded exactly like the doors in Star Trek. But it wasn't captain Picard who entered the room. And it was not the Doctor either. In came two cat faced humanoids dressed in white robes. I decided not to scream or do something silly because I remembered vaguely, I had seen some amount of alien weirdness since what felt like this morning. That had included a cat humanoid. And the Doctor had done his very best to convince me, it was okay. But, I have to say, he had not convinced me entirely. Not at all.

„Good morning Mr. Barnham. You remember me? My name is Doctor Halys. And this is nurse Eyna" The grey cat addressed me.

She then explained the routine of treatments, showed me the bell, bathroom and a few more things. She gave me general information about the hospital and asked for my food preferences (Nut allergy? okay-what are nuts?), religious demands (No, most of the time I was agnostic,no need for that!), and if I wished to be visited by a prostitute (Ah, after a moment of temptation I decided – no). Waking up in hospital on an alien planet didn't sound so bad after all.

I asked her if I could see the Doctor. She apologized, it wasn't possible. He wasn't back yet. Both turned to leave. So the Doctor was still gone... This was unnerving. Especially because she couldn't tell me where he was or when he was going to be back. With sudden intuition I asked, „Wait, my things, clothes and all. What I had with me when I came here. You have it somewhere?"

She pointed to a closet. „You'll find everything in there. But don't get up yet. There is time. If you need something, ring the bell. Now sleep off the anaesthetic. Later I'll bring you dinner and tomorrow you'll feel a lot better."

When they had left, I jumped out of my bed. Or at least, I tried to jump.

My legs didn't support me the way I was used to and the room was spinning. I suppressed a few very bad words, got hold of the table, and then shuffled over to the closet. When I had succeeded to open it with clumsy hands, I found my clothes there. Cleaned and on hangers.

I grabbed into the pocket of my jacket, hoping it was there... I really hoped... And found what I was searching for. The Doctor hadn't taken it back. Nor had the cats confiscated the sonic screwdriver! I took it, shambled back to my bed as quickly as I could, hid it under the mattress and slumped onto the bed, exhausted from the short trip. One never knew. Alone on an alien world, I didn't want to be completely unprepared!

I had just been back to bed when the door opened and in came nurse Eyna.

„Please call if you need something, don't get up on your own."

So there were monitoring the patients. „How did you know"?

She pointed at my left wrist, smiling, „That's a med report bracelet. It keeps the nurses room informed about your status. It alarmed me."

It gave me an uncomfortable big brotherish feeling, but after all, it was understandable, this was a hospital. I was their patient and therefor largely at their mercy.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

On my own

****************

The next few days passed uneventfully. The physiotherapy was low tech and straining. I had to train walking and using my hands, my body did not respond to my command so easily in the beginning but the cat physiotherapist did his best to dispel my fears of staying crippled. I was still on some medication that made me tired, so I slept a lot. But over the next few days the improvements encouraged me tremendously. They gave me self adjusting sun glasses too, because my eyes were still quite light sensitive.

The food was unusual. But good. They had accommodated me in a VIP area, the two top floors of the west wing of the building, where privacy of the patients was top priority and the staff was discreet. It was a bit like life in a five star hotel. And I was not allowed to leave it, This place was the golden cage. Although with the help of the Doctor's sonic I could probably make an escape quite easily, but then, I'd be seriously lost. They refused to talk to me about anything besides medical necessities and small talk, and I was also in the most tactful and polite way prevented from communicating with other patients, mostly humans, obviously important people, who had bodyguards and their own personnel with them. Humans, I thought, what where humans doing on another planet in the 21st century...

It made me wonder very much about this place. What was this New New York? Just some other planet? Had humans left earth at a much earlier period of history like in some Stargate scenario and held a sentimentality to their old home, naming the place after an earth city?

Or had the Doctor somehow transported me to the future? Was time travel an actual possibility? After all, was the Doctor, who apparently owned a spacecraft, actually from earth? And if yes, where did he have his knowledge from...

In my room had access to the most amazing computer terminal. When I switched it on, a holographic 3D screen built up right in front of me. Technology like this seemed to be everyday business in cultures like this. A very nice cat nurse taught me to navigate the menu of a large database of computer games. But they had limited my access to the databases. I couldn't use much apart from the entertainment section, which was impressive, albeit not very informative at all.

They politely refused to answer any of my many questions and kept telling me I had to wait for the Doctor to return. When I asked them for who or what he actually was, the only information I got out of them was, that he had helped solving one or two situations of crisis in New New York in the past. Hm.. Like the Rutan spacecraft on collision course with earth... It appeared to me that he must be some kind of galactic trouble shooter...

I wondered more and more and spent some of my free time in the patient's lounge and the big rooftop terrace with its swimming pools and gardens, where I could enjoy the spectacular view. Few people were there, patients, cat nurses, and the occasional human worker, eager to fulfil any of my wishes. They even found me a guitar as a training for my hands. I started to settle down, enjoy the weird situation fate had thrown me into a bit more, and started to look forward to an interesting future.

But a lot of the time I did something far more interesting. I had gotten a glance at how it had been set when the Doctor had handed his little tool to me. Before he had shown me how to switch it over. So in the evenings, when nobody came seeing me, I started experimenting on how to manipulate the computer system with it. Just as he had done on the Rutan spaceship. Hacking had been my passion, back in teenage days, „access denied" was still a challenge and the illegal a temptation. I desperately wanted to know, what was out there!

And I succeeded. Thanks to an of course purely rhetorical god without accidently blowing up anything or setting off an alarm. I found out, there was a university. So I spent my time browsing through the most amazing database of it's science archives, cautiously, always ready to switch back to allowed content if anybody came in. Fortunately they were always polite enough to knock. I was awed by the amount of knowledge I could find there. This was enlightenment! Everything, anybody could ever want to know about alien cultures, space travel technology, engineering, biochemistry, physics, mathematics, computer technology, medicine, everything. Answers to all the questions! I tried to take in and understand as much of it as I could. Some of the mathematic solutions I found there were so strikingly beautiful and perfect that you could die for it. It dawned on me, that there had to be repercussions to this result of my initially completely innocent curiosity. For me For others. For earth. But honestly, I couldn't resist. I drank it all in and didn't care.

But a lot of it was human history and accomplishments. I was certain now that the Doctor had somehow transported me to another time, even if still everybody refused my careful attempts to talk about this matter. So my curiosity made me looking up „Earth" in the history files. What I found out pulled away the carpet under my feet. Instantly. Completely. Earth was no more! The place I called home was a very distant past. I was stranded here. Knowing, the own home planet was destroyed felt devastating! And there was nobody to whom I could talk about my discovery. I was really longing for the Doctor to show up again. But I had to be careful. Some voice in the back of my head told me, that very likely he didn't approve with what I was doing here at all...

I started to search the database for anything concerning time travel. It was possible, with equipment even for this culture sophisticated and not even the brightest heads here understood the physics behind it fully. I found an old legend, that for eons the race of the Time Lords had perfected the technology and strictly controlled any time travel activities. Until they were wiped out in a great war, a very long time ago. The mythological race with the ability to take on another physical form instead of dying. There had not been any confirmed sightings in historic times though. It sounded a lot like the contemporary version of an Atlantis legend.... So even civilisations as advanced as this had their myths, I mused...

Apparently time travel was practiced by time agents of various historical periods and cultures, and a great deal of secrecy and mystery shrouded their institutions. They scavenged on some rare and valuable artefacts of unknown origin, that could be found scattered all over time and space. But then, it appeared to be dangerous business, too. On some planets even the attempt or possession of the technology was punishable by death. And in the history files I found a list of disasters caused by time travel accidents.

This universe had been inhabited and colonised by an incalculable number of civilisations over billions of years. They had come, developed to their zenith and then perished. Like fireflies on a warm summer day. All this just blew my mind and reduced my oh so important home world to a speck of dust somewhere in the backwaters of universal history!

I swallowed hard. Probably the Doctor was a time agent. And for that reason his secrecy.

I looked up the database for people using the alias „The Doctor". Among my hits there was a space mafia boss who had tried to take over New New York with a coup three centuries ago, a burglar who had been sentenced to 25 years of cryogenioc containment, a famous singer, and „traveller of unknown origin who helped resolve several situations of crisis in New New York" A list of really nasty incidents followed. But no further information about the person. Not even a photo.

I wondered even more about him now.

My physical health improved further, they removed the med report bracelet and I was taken off the medication, but I became more and more restless, worrying what took the Doctor so long. But on the other hand, a small voice in my head found that the idea of being able to settle down in a place like New New York had it's temptations, too......

Maybe ten uneventful days later, after breakfast, some noise out on the corridor caught my attention. The door opened and in came the Doctor, face bruised, the right hand showing wounds that resembled claw marks, limping.

„Really sorry for being so late", he addressed me, a smile lightening up his gaunt face.

Just one moment later, two cats I had not met before followed the Doctor into my room, a floating stretcher in tow.

The tabby cat addressed him reproachfully. „You know, you shouldn't be here!"

The Doctor turned to her, visibly unnerved „Listen, thank you for setting and fixing my broken ribs with the corset, the bandages and everything. I heal quite fast, I'm fine. You have no right to tell me what I do or where I go. Just leave me alone."

„Sorry, you need rest and medical attention. You had internal bleedings and you need further antibiotic treatment. A rib perforating the lung is not trivial. You'll find our xenobiology department most suited for your needs."

He shot a look at me and replied with distaste: „I really doubt that, you know! I've very good reasons to hate human hospitals, so don't give me one more. I don't care for your xenobiological department. Now stop pestering me!"

Expression frustrated he turned to me,„David, come. We are leaving."

I got up and wanted to reply but the cat was faster:

„I'm sorry, but we can not allow that."

„Really?" He shot at her, at the end of his patience, sparkling with cold anger now.

„Yes." Answered the cat gently. „You are a person of public interest. There is paragraph 378. No person of public interest is allowed to refuse treatment in circumstances of serious threat to health or life."

„What!?" For a moment he was speechless.

„ I am not even a citizen of this planet, you don't have any right to do this!" The Doctor looked at me and then at the tabby, exasperated. Suddenly, for a moment, I thought, I recognized an almost greedy expression in the cat's eyes.

„Illegal immigrant, aren't you? Now, you didn't know our laws? They apply to all residents. No matter what nationality or race. Please come with us."

He refused.

„Of course you can turn to your ambassador to file a complaint." He just stared back at her, "If your kind has one." She added in her sweetest voice, locking her eyes with his.

Obviously she had hit a nerve with that. The Doctor's expression turned from angry to shocked. Then everything happened very fast. The tabby drew a cylindrical object from her medical kit, pointed it at the Doctor and pressed a button.

Her black colleague caught the Doctor as he fell, silently, but with a look of utter terror on his face. I screamed and jumped at the first cat. She stopped me with surprising strength and shoved me back onto the bed.

„Don't panic! Nobody wants to harm him. He's just anaesthesized ." She bent over him to feel his pulse. „He's fine."

Then she showed me the gun she still held in her hand. „See? Anesthetic gun. Standard procedure to put under patients who become a danger to themselves . He'll wake up later. The worst thing this can do is giving him a headache for some hours. He's very ill. We can give him the treatment he needs now. Trust me!"

I didn't trust her and opened my mouth to protest but she continued: " And it's the law. Every judge will confirm it. I can assure you, that he is in the most competent hands. In a few days he'll be well, like you, and free to go wherever he wants."

They lifted the limp body onto the stretcher..

I felt totally helpless. And found what what was going on here most alarming. But I decided not to protest or argue with the cats.

„I want to talk to him as soon as he is awake!" Her smile unnerved me, was it as forced as I thought, or was I just on the verge of paranoia?

„Sure! Later. In a few days." She replied. It was best not to let my concerns show, whatever they planned to do. If they planned anything. I decided to play naive and ignorant, it was my only chance if I wanted to find out what was going on.

„Yes, of course. I understand. I'll be patient." I replied, doing my best not to let the emotional turmoil all this caused me show. They left. If they had any sinister plans, I hoped, I had convinced them that I did not have a clue. For the moment it seemed to work. Or was I just panicking and what the cat had told me was the truth?

I waited for a while after they had left, then I turned on the computer, looked up that § 378 and indeed, they had not lied about it. Still. It didn't convince me. The Doctor hadn't looked so severely wounded. Okay, he had looked bad, but he could walk and talk without aid. But the cats had seemed more then a little too eager to provoke this outcome.

I called up the hospital map and searched for the xenobiological department. The part of the hospital where non human patients were treated. It was in the same building, in another wing. I magnified it and started a search for what I could find out about it's various sections. Then I instructed the search bot to look up new arrivals of the few days and gave it some encouragement with the sonic. I developed really some affection for the little tool. And wondered. He probably just looked human but wasn't. As I had found out on my research trips to the database, there were several species that did. Or could, if they wanted, by shapeshifting for example....

I found about 297 patients that were treated in the last three days, I went through the list and found 296 that were clearly not the Doctor. He was neither a Ruash female with egg binding, nor pale blue ectoplasma with a totally unspeakable name and disease, nor the ambassador of some wasp like insectoid race, with a disgusting, sexually transmitted parasitic problem. Nor a whole lot of other things, ranging from very humanoid to very exotic.

Then I checked the entry with no further specifications or informations at all. Unlike for most of the others I didn't find any room allocation. And there was a folder, but no data in it. It appeared as if all the data had been removed. This looked suspiciously like a hot track! I switched the computer to my permitted areas and quickly hid the sonic, when lunch was served. The cat nurse was friendly as ever but her sight now made me uneasy.

Had this been a plot? And if yes, who else was involved, maybe doctor Halys? Whom could I trust? Was I in danger, too? When the Doctor was a time agent, were the cats from a party that had jumped onto the occasion to get informations out of him or put him away? Not unlike in some earthly places... Times changed, but people/alien creatures apparently didn't. Nowhere. Time agents... I shuddered.

So there was a decision to make. Did I actually want to go home? The thought of being able to stay here was tempting. After all, the Doctor appeared to be a questionable figure, too. Would he allow me to stay here if I wanted? What was his time agent business about anyway, the informations on the databases had been more then obscure and vague...

Would the authorities or the "time agency" here be able and willing to organize transport home for a displaced person like me? What would happen to me anyway, if the Doctor just vanished, was a 21st century human in the end an interesting guinea pig for their scientists? Would I be able to make a living in New New York? And what was waiting for me if I tried to find the Doctor, but failed and they caught me trying? Or us on the run. All these thoughts started going haywire in my head.

The most weighty pro Doctor arguments were, that he had saved earth. And he had saved me, by bringing me here. He hadn't hesitated for a second to do it. On a personal level, even if I hardly knew him, I had spent not more then maybe 30 rather dreadful minutes with him, some remote part of my mind had decided to like the guy....not matter what he was. He was my only link home! I owed him and had to see if he was in trouble.


	4. Chapter 4

Hi folks, this is a slightly altered 4th chapter, it was necessary to change a few things to make it fit with later parts.

Thanks for staying with me and David so far. The next chapter will be up very soon.

Chapter 4

Preparations

So I spent my next sessions on the databases finding out, where the Doctor could be held captive. And how to get there. When the dishes had been cleared away, I activated the computer console. For a moment, the air above it flickered silver and then the colourful emblem of Mercy Hospital hung resplendent and three dimensional in the air, the time-honoured earth symbol for medicine; the serpent coiled around a staff, surrounded by a circle of stars.

I took a closer look at Xenobiology department, it was floors 120 to 142, in the opposite wing of the building. I looked up their staff and frowned when I found the culprits for the attack. It had been professor Xian, the head of the department, a decorated Xenobiologist, and her senior assistant.

Fortunately, the religious order running the hospital seemed to be a very bureaucratic lot, they kept meticulous files of room occupancy. I found sick rooms, treatment rooms, laboratories, quarantine and a lot more, everything labelled with it's current use and occupants. But there were no signs of the Doctor. However, a hot rush of adrenaline surged through my veins when I found, beside the public hospital, a few segregated rooms that were just labelled as the good professor's private labs. Bingo!

Now getting there virtually was one thing. In real life it was a whole different story.

Leaving my ward should not be such a big task. With the sonic, I could always knock out the security systems, maybe setting off an alarm, using the chaos to disappear unnoticed. But then I had not that much time until they came searching for me. When I thought of it... one of those anaesthetic guns could be handy. If it was a plot. And if I had to escape with the Doctor, my thoughts trailed off......

Jesus! Did I really want to do this, playing James Bond on an alien planet? I started to realize what I was attempting here. This was madness! I was sitting there, in front of the console, my heart racing, palms sweaty. My finger inched to the off button of the computer. I could just switch to my beloved university database now and forget about this raving madness. The idea that everything was perfectly all right and it was just me getting a little bit paranoid suddenly appeared very tempting. On the other hand, my two years of press training told me, that, at times, it was reasonable to be a bit paranoid . I decided to postpone the decision if I actually wanted to try this to later. Instead, I investigated everything interesting concerning my possible enterprise, the security systems, the caretakers and technical staff, their facilities, duty rota, maps and blueprints of the building, elevators and ventilation shafts, everything I could find.

After dinner and another extensive research session, I took my wristwatch from the locker, set the alarm clock at 2 o'clock in the morning and went to bed. I needed some equipment and the night duty would pose the best chance to obtain it. For obvious reasons I hardly slept, just dozed off after midnight but woke up again before the alarm clock rang. There was just too much adrenaline in my blood to sleep well. I yawned heartily, got up and put on my dressing gown. Then set the sonic, slipped it into the right pocket and stepped out to the softly lit corridor.

On the way to the terrace I got startled when I was addressed from behind.

"Is everything all right, Mr. Barnham? Can I help you?" It was the night nurse. I turned to her and hoped that my jumpiness wasn't too obvious.

"Oh, ah.. I just couldn't sleep. Maybe a little walk and fresh air will help."

"Of course. And if it doesn't, stop by the doctor's office, Doctor Ash can give you something."

"Yeah. That's sounds like a good idea." I agreed, a bit overenthusiastic. Fortunately they were already used to occasional insomniac night strolls and were far more tolerant then the staff of the earth hospital I knew. On the way to the terrace, I took a little detour to the caretaker's room. I opened it with the sonic and unseen by anyone I slid into it. I thoroughly searched the lockers and found a lot of useful things. A worker's overall, some inconspicuous civvies roughly my size, I also found a torch, some rope, a break iron and a packet of cookies. I stuffed everything into something resembling a backpack. Then I pried out to the corridor, and when I saw, that the coast was clear I stepped out again. My heart was racing. For sure, anybody who would have met me now must have been able to see from a mile's distance, that something was wrong with me! But the corridor was empty. The pounding of my heart, the echo of my footsteps and the faint hum of the air conditioning were the only sounds, that kept me and my prey company on my way to the terrace.

The lights of the city almost turned the night into an artificial day. They didn't have any energy problems here, fusion power stations producing any amount that was desired. I made sure, that I was alone and then hurried over to the wall, where a metal ladder led up to the flat roof. The wall was lined with high beds. There, behind some dense, flowering bushes I hid the bag pack. I took a deep, shaky breath and walked, as casually as I managed, over to a bench. I sat down and for a while just watched a colourful, blinking, 3D neon sign that alternately advertised a soft drink, a space line, and a fare for the latest beauty products. The faint noises of the city were different to the ones I knew from London and the New York of my time, but the bustling unrest of the city had still something familiar, that calmed me down a little bit. I filled my lungs with the cool, clean air and shivered. Not only from the temperature. After some time I got up. It was now that I had to decide if I really wanted to do this. I stretched my legs for a while to silence the chaos in my head; with little success. When my stroll brought me back to the terrace door, I took a deep breath, forced all those fears to the back end of my brain for a moment and braced myself. Yes. Foolish as it was, I wanted to do it.

So my way took me to the doctor's office, where I would pretend to be in need of some sleeping pills. Of course I was after something else, hopefully to be found in the medical bag that was usually sitting prominently on the desk there. I stepped through the glass sliding door of the office, doing my best not to look as awkward as I felt.

"Good morning, Mr. Barnham, you can't sleep again?" Doctor Ash asked. She looked up from some documents or whatever she had flicked through and twirled her whiskers between thumb and index finger. I stepped closer.

"Yeah. The usual." I complained, obviously convincing enough for her. She took a medical instrument from her belt pocket and pointed it at me.

"The blood pressure's a bit high. And your pulse is up too. Did you have too much caffeine again? I told you, not more than one glass of Scoaran coffee, especially not in the evening. Your nervous system can't take it yet!" She scolded. I did my best to look guilty, not nervous. She put the instrument back, grumbled on and turned to a locker at the other side of the room. I slid my hand into the pocket of the dressing gown and groped for the sonic. Then through the fabric pointed it at the all beverage brewer in one corner of the room and prayed that it had sufficient range. When I pressed the button, the beverage brewer started to splutter and wheeze, and an instant later with a noisy hiss impressive amounts of steam and hot water started shooting from the outlet. With a shriek, she dropped a box and darted over to it, my presence completely forgotten. Carefully, I inched to the bag, opened it behind my back. Out of the corner of my eye, I peeked into it. A cylindrical object. Yes! There was one, identical to the one the professor's assistant had used on the Doctor. While she tried to stop the steam fountain in vain and using her communicator, to call for help I slid it unseen into my trouser pocket and closed the bag again. Moments later, a night nurse came in and together they tackled the still rioting machine. When that was accomplished a soaking wet doctor Ash turned back to me, an apologetic cat grin on her face.

"Was the coffee even too strong for the machine?" I couldn't suppress the cheeky remark.

"I'm so sorry! I've no idea, what's wrong with it! Right, you need your sleeping medication" She fetched some pills from the locker and handed them to me.

"Thank you, good night then." Quite high, intoxicated by my success, I walked back to my room. My heart was pounding like mad, but I reined in the urge to run. As casually as I could, I strolled back, hid the anaesthetic gun and sonic screwdriver on the balcony, in a cavity behind the bench. I hadn't been much of a thief before; I just didn't have the nerve for anything more seriously criminal than tax fraud. Fare-dodge. Or the occasional drug use, and that showed now. I was close to panic at the thought of my loot, somehow convinced that my deed must be written clearly on my forehead now, visible to everybody. Which of course was paranoid nonsense, I told myself.

I went back to bed, less than an hour after I had left it. One of the sleeping pills would last for about three hours. They were good, a lot better than 21st century earth stuff; they didn't give you a hangover. I needed to be well rested for what I was planning and there was just no sleep now without some help.


	5. Chapter 5

Hi folks. So here the next bit. If you liked it so far, and some people obviously did, I'd appreciate tremendously, if you left me a note in form of a review :-))

And will we be back with the Doctor soon? Yes, we will....

By the way, if you are a Doc 10 fan (I don't want to say, that Doc 11 is in any way unlikeable, but so far I find 10 more interesting to spin plots with, he's the more complex character), I intend to stick to him, writingwise.

Where Angels Fear To Tread

"Good morning, Mr Barnham. Did you sleep well?" The nurse opened the shutters with her remote control, then quickly placed the tray with my breakfast on the table. The unpleasant clattering woke me fully.

"Good morning." I replied. Hm. Didn't she sound less cheerful then usual? Had my secret activities last night already attracted attention? I took a nervous breath and clenched my hands into the bed sheets. Please, PLEASE, let her just leave!

"Ah, I'm fine, thank you!" I did my best not to stammer. She chose to ignore my less than talkative mood and bent my ears with some cheery small talk. Didn't she have any other work to do? Seconds seemed to stretch into hours, until finally, she left.

I had physiotherapy at ten, but with luck, at that time I wouldn't be here anymore. I got up and took a look out to the corridor. No. Another nurse busy with her food trolley, a patient in a repulsor chair, a group of chatting doctors. As usual. I sighed with relief. I had no appetite, but forced down most of the breakfast and put on my usual leisure suit. The dishes were cleared away. I held my breath, when the nurse fussed over some crumbs, I had spread on the floor. But still. Nothing unusual, so I waited for 8.30, biting my nails, fighting the urge to pace up and down. Half an hour into visiting hours, the hospital corridors on the floors open to the public should be busy with visitors. I just prayed that the maps and blueprints I had studied were an accurate image of what was waiting for me out there. I peeked out to the corridor, no, still nothing unusual. I then took three deep breaths, got the sonic and anaesthetic gun from their lair, hid the anaesthetic gun in the inside pocket of my jacket and the sonic in the outside pocket. I stuffed my suit into a shoulder bag. If it was found missing, they maybe searched for a human male wearing these things. I also packed my literature board, a reading device replacing books here, in case I had to wait somewhere. Then I stepped out of my room for the last time, glancing back. As strange as it had been in the beginning, I realized, it had a very unexpected feeling of home now. I tore myself loose from this sudden familiarity, ready to boldly go where no earth human had tread before.... That was probably wrong of course, the Doctor visiting this place, but it definitely had a weird and hilarious feel of discovering the unknown. This adventure was real! If I told this story to my colleagues back at home...

I didn't have much time for daydreams though.

I greeted one of my favourite nurses in the hallway; she merrily greeted back, still no suspect. It was a cloudy day; the weather didn't attract a lot of visitors to the terrace. I watched a servant scurry to a pavilion at the other end. When he had vanished into its privacy, I wandered leisurely over to the ladder, making sure, nobody was watching me. Then pulled out the back pack as unobtrusively as possible, shouldered it, climbed up the steps, and scurried onto the moist metal as fast and noiselessly as possible.

I just lay flat on my belly, breathless. And was startled at a shrieking noise. I looked up, it was just one of those bizarre, four winged birds. The air traffic corridor was close enough to attract attention to my activities though. I crawled further away from the ladder, got up and headed for the skylight that led to the emergency staircase. The Doctor's little miracle tool opened it for me and I climbed down another ladder, closing the skylight behind me. There I found two steel doors in the plain white walls. One was the emergency exit of the ward, the other door led to several service rooms. One of them should have an access to the shafts of the air conditioning. Every floor in every building had one such room, and that, specifically the fresh air shafts were, what I was after.

I opened the back pack and pulled out the bundle. The stale smell of unwashed clothes wasn't very inviting, nor was the clothes themselves. It was a wide, actually too wide, ridiculous lavender harem style trouser; I struggled to keep it in place with my belt. The jacket was fortunately more unobtrusive, waist length and blue. At last, I put the green hat on my head. It looked like an oversized cross between a beret and a startled blowfish. There was just one word for this: Camp! Just the right thing for a Christopher Street Day, but I decidedly ignored my cringing fashion sense. Male fashion here was more colourful then back on earth anyway, it covered my hair and part of my face, and if I avoided any mirrors....

Next, I examined the anaesthetic gun. It lay cool and heavy in my hand. At one side it had a little display with a menu, quite similar to a cell phone. It had a range of about twenty yards and I could choose the dose. When I tried to fire a shot at the wall, nothing happened. The display flared up red with "unauthorised handler", but that could be easily helped with the sonic screwdriver. I tried again, and it the display red "please point at target person". So it just worked, if I pointed it at a person to be sedated. Fine for me! I adjusted it to maximum dose and slid it into the inside pocket of the jacket.

Fifteen floors down, there was an orthopaedic ward and in the main building a big visitor's cafeteria. I stuffed everything back into the back pack, shouldered it and headed downwards. I approaching the door, gripping the sonic in my pocket. And broke out in cold sweat, when suddenly I heard shuffling footsteps behind me.

"Hey, you there, lady!" I turned around. A chubby, human male clad in a blue staff overall that clashed painfully with his copper hair was taking the last steps up to the floor and scanned me grumpily. I cringed. What had he said? Lady?

"Oh, mister!" He corrected himself, sniggering, then turned uncomfortably serious again.

"This staircase is for emergency use only. It's locked. How the hell did you get in here?"

"I... I" I stuttered and racked my brain for the sections I had just passed. "I was at the allergy ward and wanted to go to the cafeteria. The door was open. I'm sorry, I had no idea, I was trespassing" I lied.

"Why didn't you use the escalator!" he asked scrutinizingly.

"I'm... I'm.. ah.. claustrophobic" I stumbled on, finally coming up with a good and not completely untrue excuse.

"There are several public staircases. Sure you won't get claustrophobic there!"

"Well... no. But.. it's..." I had seen those staircases from the terrace, they were glass shelled attachments the facade, "yes, but I'm afraid of heights too, and with all that glass, the view is making me giddy... Can you please open that door for me? It's locked." I asked the man with small voice, hoping, I sounded somewhat innocent. And broke out in sweat when he frowned and just whipped up a small communication device, fixing his gaze on me.

"Hi Gus, it's me. What? No! I just want to know, if there's one of those freaks from psychiatry reported missing? Male, human, maybe 25 years old?" He waited for a few seemingly endless seconds.

"No? There isn't? Oh good. Bye then!" He huffed a breath, giving my hat a last, incredulous look. Then finally waddled to the door, and unlocked it for me.

"Maybe you could still stop by at psychiatry, with your.... problems and all!" He remarked gruffly, shook his head and opened the door to a busy hallway. With the words "I don't ever wanna see you in the staff areas again!" he smashed the door shut in my face.

I gasped in relief. So there I was. Free. On an alien world. In the future. The corridor looked not unlike the ones of my old ward. The people here were humans, some of them dressed very, very unusual by my standards, but altogether the place looked surprisingly similar to a 21st century earth hospital hallway. I had to keep a low profile and my mind on the task ahead, I reminded myself. I wasn't here for sight seeing!

The hospital was huge, it's size matched the sheer magnitude of the city. I set out for the the east wing, emergency staircase 3, the one with the access to the air condition service rooms. I managed to get there without succumbing too much to my urge to gape, and decided not to use the toilet to change into the staff overall. I could hardly wear the hat with it and if I met workers I'd probably have a very awkward time if I had to talk to them. Instead I decided, just to hide in a toilet cubicle until the workers had their lunch break. By now, my missing must have been noticed.

So some time later, I stood with my back to that door, again trying my best to look unsuspicious. I pointed the sonic at the control panel behind me. Pressed the button. There was the familiar whirring sound and then a faint click. I waited a moment, until nobody looked in my direction. Then grabbed the the door behind me, opened it just wide enough, discretely slipped through and closed it, this time my heart pounding a lot less then the first time. I hurried down the stairs, about 20 floors. There was the maintenance room. I opened it and switched on the light. It was stark, concrete walls painted white, the doors to several broom closets on one side, a table with chairs, the rest of the room was filled with jumble. Very interesting alien jumble, but I wasn't here for that. Here the fresh air supply was branching off from the vertical main fresh air shaft. It was a square metal tube, a bit more than three feet high and two and a half wide. Now that was the hardest part, for a claustrophobic. Climbing up the convenient metal steps and into that narrow thing. I took a queasy look up at the hatch. Then I shoved some boxes aside and tried if it opened. Suddenly there was the muted sound of laughter and and footsteps. Without thinking, I sprinted to the next of the broom closets, wrenched open the door and dove into the darkness of the small room, crouching low behind a stack of sacks.

"Hey, why's the light on?" I heard a female voice.

"No idea, Carlee. Maybe the timer's broken."

"Come on, you can repair that later" A husky third voice urged, then grating of chair legs and more rattling, rustling and finally snickering and then a rhythmic ... erm..... well.... activity. I became the ear witness of what had to be a hot threesome. Um, yes. No need to to go deeper into that. Of course no pun intended here.

I hoped, that after getting physical they left, but they didn't do me that favour. Instead, they made themselves comfortable with something that sounded like playing cards, and then later some more horizontal endeavors. I was getting more and more cramped and uncomfortable in my hideout. Carefully I shifted into cross legged position. And then I waited. It got 2 o'clock, 3. And finally 5 o'clock. If these were workers I could indeed congratulate them to their cushy number of a job! My initial nervousness turned into frustration and then into boredom. I waited it out. What else could I do. Eventually, they had to leave. My legs went from hurting to numb, and from there to more painful, and felt my bladder filling slowly, but steadily to a point of bursting, when finally they had mercy with me and left. I waited another while, then limped out of my hiding. With a sigh of relief, I peed into an empty bottle, the horny party had forgotten. If I left New New York, at least I left them a urine sample as a parting gift and token of my everlasting gratitude.

I emptied the back pack of most of the stuff and took my shoes off. When I opened the hatch, the draught was immense. Sooner or later everyone had to face those irrational fears lurking deep down in one's psyche, my moment had come now. I hung the torch around my neck with a piece of string and switched it to lowest level, forced myself not to think of how narrow that thing up there was and climbed into it. It was quite a challenge to close the hatch behind me and then turn around in the tube. Then I just sat there. The walls around me appeared to cave in on me, telling me, I'd die any moment. I crouched low, desperately forcing myself to keep my eyes open, to overcome the panic, calm down and get used to this impossible place. The torch cast a tottering cone of light on the metal below. Ahead I could see more faint lights, air outlets to hospital rooms. Nothing happened. After a while, the horror and vertigo started to subside. I tried to crawl forward as noiselessly as possible. Despite it's ugly look, the soft fabric of the harem trouser proved to be very useful here. So, very cautiously, I moved forward. As soon as I had passed the first crossroad, the air pressure in my back decreased noticeably, out of curiosity, I peeked through the next air outlet. Down there was just an office busy with nurses. I moved forward, slowly but steadily. If I had thought that sitting in that hideout in the broom closet was uncomfortable, this beat it by lengths. The crawling seemed endless, but actually, it took me about two hours.

Several cramps in my legs later, I arrived with increasing back ache at crossing number seven, where I had to turn right. Ten more arduous minutes later I had to turn left. Counted from there, the Professor's private labs had to be outlets nine to fourteen. I prayed, that my research had been accurate. I seriously started to worry. The idea, that I had to creep back all the way was as horrid, as the thought of what I might find. No, this was definitely the most stupid idea of my life! Including the decision to follow that Doctor into the shuttle wreck! But now I was here, if I turned back, I could as well first have a look at these laboratories.

I didn't even have to pry into the first room. It was dark, so I moved on. I was so nervous, I had to hold my breath when I peeked into the second. An aquarium with aliens in it! A huge glass tank with some very odd, pink, spindly creatures. Okay! There was the last one. My heart jumped when I came closer. I heard a voice.

"So how long do you want to play this game. You know what we want. You can make all this a whole lot less painful, you know? Now tell me!"

"I can't. I won't. For your own good. I can't! Please! Let me go!" The laboured rasp of that pleading hit me in the guts.

"What, letting the ultimate prize walk out of this door? Don't be daft. Sooner or later we'll get to your secrets. All your secrets. We have all the time, if you refuse to cooperate.."

The Doctor howled in pain.

"Don't you try escaping into that coma again!"

His whimper was quickly drowned out by an automatic door, footsteps and conversation. "Did you get us a ship out sooner?

"No, professor. The problem is not the ship, but the unauthorised teleport to the ship. Not before tomorrow night."

Xian sighed. "Fine. Tomorrow then."

I almost choked on a fit of panic! This here was completely out of my league! Utterly and completely. What had I been thinking, when I decided to go after homicidal criminals alone! I racked my brain for any sensible ideas. Probably it was the best, if I crept back, returned to my ward, made a full confession to doctor Halys and pleaded her to help. If she believed my story at all. And if she wasn't in cahoots with Xian.

Trembling in every limb, I started to move backwards.

Clank!

My heart stopped. The torch rolled on the ground in front of me. I grasped for it and noisily banged my head at the ceiling, I bit on my lip to suppress a curse and held my breath.


	6. Chapter 6

Thanks to XTimeGirlX who took time to korrect my spelling and commas :-))

**Chapter 6**

**The Cat, The Doctor And The Phone Booth**

"What was that!" I heard Xian's now faint voice.

"I don't know. It came from the air shaft." Was the muffled reply.

"A syp drone?"

I heard a low humming noise. " I don't know. But there is definitely something! I call security."

"And what do we do with him?"

"Don't be so stupid! Of course we don't let them in here." The door hissed.

Trapped! There was no way back; they would be coming after me from there. I crept back to the air outlet and peeked through the shutter blades. There was only one way out and I had to act fast. I fumbled for the anaesthetic gun and slightly bent a shutter blade. Then I aimed at the lone cat, that was now busy pulling a ladder from out of a cubicle. I pressed the button.

The cat fell silently. I crept forward and started to kick frantically at the outlet. A few kicks sent it flying. It landed noisily in some laboratory equipment. I squeezed myself through the hole feet first, the sharp metal cutting into my hands, then let go. And flinched when hot pain exploded in my ankle, I lost balance, landed on all fours, and panicked. How to escape with a sprained ankle! Carefully, I stretched my aching back and stiff shoulders. I tried to put some weight onto the leg, clenched the teeth when pain shot through it and tried to take a step. I could use the leg. Barely. Two impulses were fighting in my mind: Getting out of here. Freeing the Doctor. I readied the anaesthetic gun. Then my eyes fell on on the operation table at the other end of the room. And the pathetic figure, who lay on it, motionless.

I limped over to him.

The room was larger than the apartment I had been accommodated in, and unlike it, didn't look comfortable, like a living room. Or a sick bay room. It was an alien laboratory, stuffed with all kinds of strange equipment! I gripped the anaesthetic gun harder and grabbed the sonic screwdriver with the other, struggling on my throbbing foot. White walls, machinery, lit by a dim nightlight. I gaped, when I noticed a big blue box in one corner, covered in wiring. It was an even in my time outdated English public call police box! About the last thing I expected in this place!

I turned to the Doctor. A metal frame was fixed to the his skull. When he heard my footsteps, he opened his eyes. They looked eerily hollow in his pale, freckled face, tears glistened on his cheeks.

It took him a moment to focus, as if he was fighting for control over himself. When he recognized me, some of the silent horror vanished from these eyes and he just stared at me like a wounded animal, a wordless plea for help. My worst concerns had come true. I tried to touch him but was stopped by an invisible barrier.

With difficulty he swallowed and then spoke.

„T- tardis" he gasped.

„Sorry, what do you mean?"

„Blue box. We need...we need..."

„Okay, okay. It's over there" I assured him. „What do I do now?"

He exhaled, with a heavy sigh. His absentminded gaze wandered to the sonic I was holding, with the faintest notion of a smile, then back to me, like it took him all the effort to think.

„Seal … the door" Quick!"

I found the idea of locking myself in with the disabled Doctor, in a building full of hostile cats, trapping us, not very reassuring. But this was not the time for doubts in his instructions. I switched the sonic with bloody hands, hobbled to the door and knocked out the mechanism. Not too soon, suddenly from the other side of the door I heard upset voices muffled by the solid steel. I hoped that the door held long enough for whatever plans the Doctor had. If he had any coherent plans at all. Teleporting out, maybe stealing a spaceship, however to manage that in our current state, or whatever ace your average time agent had up his sleeve.....

I shuffled back to him. He tried to move his hand in vain.

„Forcefield generator. Must be ...somewhere.....under..."

I applied the sonic screwdriver frantically to all of the equipment under the table; it sizzled and smoked, until I heard a faint „Got it". I got up again, bent over him. When I pointed the sonic at his headgear he grabbed my arm hard.

„No, no. .. kill me. Just... just..... pull the plugs. This..this...... thing is.... driving me nuts." he whispered between laboured breaths.

I swallowed down the lump in my throat and tried to sort out the wiring. Seeing him, and for that matter, seeing anybody in such agony made me angry and completely forget my own pain. I grabbed the wires and cables and sent a prayer to all benevolent forces that might be out there in the universe. Just in case that any of them existed for real. I needed all help I could get here! Then I pulled hard.

The Doctor convulsed with a gurgling groan when the cables came loose, bulging eyes staring empty to the ceiling. For a moment, I thought, I had killed him. Then the lights on the forehead plate of the headgear went out, he closed his eyes and slowly, slowly relaxed.

I tried to feel his pulse; it was racing, irregular and just plain weird. After all, I reminded myself, if he was an alien, this was useless. I had no idea, what was a normal heart rate for him. I removed the IV needles from his arms and checked, that the cat I had shot was still unconscious. Then I returned to the Doctor and took a closer look at the headgear, counting the seconds, hoping, he just woke up. Hundreds of tiny wires protruded from its inside. They had pierced into his skin but hung loose now. The Doctor's shallow breath became steadier, while the door was still resisting now more violent attempts to break it. I switched the sonic back to unlock and I fought hard to keep the panic at bay. I readied the anaesthetic gun, to shoot any intruders, but what chance did I have?

After some moments that felt like eternity, he slowly regained consciousness.

„So glad to see you, David!" He whispered and his eyelids fluttered shut, as if he was about to pass out again. I took him by the shoulders and shook him.

„We are not safe, Doctor! There are cats trying to break the doors. And what's this thing? Can I remove it? Are you okay? Please, I need your help now! PLEASE!" I just hoped that he was soon able to talk some sense. Very soon.

He opened his eyes again, reluctantly and blinked. „Yes... safe ."

„Doctor! We need to get out of here and I have no idea, how. Think up a plan, I'll try to get you out of this headgear!" I shouted at him in sheer despair.

„Plan... Yes.... Creeps into the brain, observes, ploughs thought memories, monitoring, influencing. " With a vague smile he watched me working. „ And after that they planned to kill me. To study the regeneration process. Brilliant idea, ey?" he whispered.

He kept talking, but I was too busy with the headgear to pay much attention to it. I didn't know what he was babbling about anyway. I glanced nervously to the door from time to time while trying to figure out, where the opening mechanism of the headgear was.

„Get out....."

I sighed with relief when I finally managed to open it and removed the top part with shaky hands, revealing tiny drops of blood on the Doctor's skin where the wires had pierced it. I threw the alien torture instrument away; it clattered on the white tile floor. The Doctor swayed, when I helped him to sit up, fortunately his eyes seemed to become more clear and focused now.

But the door suddenly showed a wandering, red hot spot. So now they were using blowtorches, or plasma cutters, or whatever to force their way in. Damn, he needed to rest now, and I needed to rest, for that matter, but there was absolutely no time for a luxury like that. We were trapped. This looked dire. Really dire. Like the end for both of us! Would they torture me too?

„ What now, Doctor? Can you walk? " I yelled at him.

„ Have to. Help me, to the Tardis." I looked to him questioningly.

„ Blue Box! Hurry!"

This was indeed not the moment to question things. I dragged him more to that blue thing than we walked. My own leg was throbbing like mad and threatening to resign duty under the extra weight. I fought to keep balance. Then he snapped with the fingers of his right hand and the doors flew open, right at the same moment, when the steel was giving in to the blowtorch attack.

„In! And shut the doors!"

With the rest of my strength, I pushed us both into the box, let go of the Doctor, slammed the blue doors shut, lost balance and grasped for the back wall of the box. But there was nothing. I toppled to the cool metal floor and lay there panting heavily.

It hurt. Besides my hurting ankle, my still weak nervous system didn't take too good to what I had forced it through, creeping through the ventilating shafts for hours. Just being able to lie there was heaven. I shot the doors an anxious glance.

„They can't break in. We're safe here." I heard the hoarse voice of the Doctor.

I looked up. I was not in a box only a few feet wide. I was in a spacious hall. I crawled over to him. Beyond some first aid for humans I didn't know much about medicine. I had no idea what to do with a seriously injured alien.

„You look worried." The Doctor whispered when I came face to face with him.

„I am. Is there anything....?"

He managed a weak smiled and waved a hand „Nah, just a terrible headache. You got me out of this... in time...."

I looked up to get a better view at my new surrounding and what I saw was the most alien thing among the many alien things these events had thrown at me. A huge, dome shaped, almost organic looking structure with pillars and a glowing central column that seemed alive with the pulsing hum it emitted. That smell....reminded me of...

„Wait, you brought me in here, when I was poisoned and blind. And then we were in New New York. This is some sort of spacecraft in disguise!"

„My Tardis is nice, isn't it? Welcome to my mobile home." He whispered.

„But it is...."

„Bigger on the inside?" The Doctor finished my sentence.

„Reeeealy? I've never noticed" he croaked, a mocking tone in his voice.

„You know", I swallowed, „ this is the weirdest thing I have ever seen." I fought the impulse to giggle manically, still high on adrenaline and sheer relief, my hands shaking.

I looked down at the Doctor, who just lay there, leaning his head against the next pillar.

„You are some kind of secret agent, right? That's why they tortured you."

My statement had an instant and surprising effect. He suffered a severe and obviously painful fit of giggles, wheezing, holding his ribs. I pulled myself up with the next best thing I could grab, some metal railing, to get a better look.

„Ouch.. That hurts! Boy, you've got some wild fantasy! You should really watch less telly...... „ With effort he made himself more comfortable.

„I'm not a secret agent.. They were just....well... curious, that's all. That wasn't a torture instrument. It's for contacting people in coma. A bit crude, but functional. On humans. Didn't work properly on me. Brain's too different. Can be used for bad things too, it's forbidden technology in many places.... "

„What! They did this to you because of curiosity?" I burst out.

„Oh yes! I'm in a tight spot, when I end up in hospital. I'm used to that" he smirked. "And this one I survived only because of sheer luck. Tons of it. And your resourcefulness and courage. You're a brave man. Did you know that, David Barnham?" He looked me straight in the eyes and just for a split second, before I could pull away, I stumbled into a knowing, timeless abyss there that fascinated and took me aback at the same time.

Irritated, I tried to shake off the pang of shame, that this short moment had evoked in me. That impossible stranger was the first person in a long time who had been able to look deeply enough into me to be able to make me feel ashamed. I had never been brave. I had wriggled through life quite irresponsibly, mainly dedicating myself to things that promised fun. Or some kind of profit. Or both. I rationalized it as hedonistic, but a lot of the time it was nothing more then plain narcissism.

Before I could contemplate these uneasy feelings too much, the Doctor continued, quietly and with effort: „Know what? I want to get away from this place. Last visit to New New York. Ever. Can you help me up to the console?"

With some difficulty, I managed to get us both up to the round centrepiece, at the bottom of the glowing central column. I had to support him while he pulled switches here and levers there, leaned over to some monitor filled with strange glyphs. The machine of the ship sprung to life with that unearthly noise, a shiver running through it. The Doctor affectionately caressed the translucent material of the column, then staggered over to a bench and collapsed there, at the end of his strength, face now pale as ash and contorted with pain.

„Sorry.... need …. to rest now."

„Is there a bed anywhere or something for you? And you need to see a doctor!" I bent over him, clueless at what to do.

„I'm the Doctor... you forgot?" he joked weakly.

„I mean... a physician! One for your kind, preferably." He hesitated for a moment, and then replied softly, „That's.... just not possible, David. No, no, it's fine here. Just fine. I'll be okay, nothing some rest can't cure." But my worry for him must have been written all over my face. "Really! I won't die here on you and leave you stranded." he assured me. „Stairs down, two levels. Corridor to the left, first door. Guest apartment."

I just stared back at him.

„For you! Go!"

I didn't know what to reply. I limped over to the blankets, that lay discarded in a corner and picked up a few clean ones. Clumsily, he tried to ward me off, when I covered him, reminding me very much of myself, when I was small and my grandma dared to make a fuss over me, when I was sick. After a short moment of hesitation, some kind of struggle, he whispered. „Know what? You want to travel with me, when we are both, ah, ...feeling better? See some more of the universe?"

„And what, behind every corner something explodes in my face or murderous creatures are lurking, waiting for a good opportunity to jump you?"

„Yeah, well, at times.... could be. Can't deny that. But there are nice things, too. No risk, no fun." He grinned sheepishly.

The past events had clearly not been of the fun end of the deal. I didn't know, what to say to an offer like that. It left me a bit speechless, actually. „Yeah, well. Um.... I..." I stammered, then plucked up all the courage that I had, telling myself what a fool I'd be if I rejected an opportunity like that. „Yes. I'd like to."

He beamed at me; for a moment it gave his worn features the looks of a mischievous little boy. Then he closed his eyes with a sigh and as he drifted off, the pained expression vanishing from his face.

Slowly I made my way down the spiral staircase, to the left corridor, first door to the right.

It was Art Deco, richly decorated with the most exquisite furniture, woodcarvings and flower ornaments. I dropped like a stone onto the bed, unable to appreciate the unexpected beauty, or wonder, how something like it existed on an alien spacecraft. Nothing could surprise me anymore.

I pulled the quilted blanket over my aching body, so relieved that I could give my mangled ankle some rest. It took me some time to find out how to switch off the lights, but eventually I figured it out. Accidently, actually, because the only thing I had to do was to become quiet for a moment and want it. Wonders over wonders! Then I lay awake in the dark, for a long time, thoughts racing.

Tomorrow I'd wake up in my bed in London and laugh about all of this! The thought that I should start writing science fiction novels instead of articles about bird flu conferences sprang up my mind. What an insane story.....

But it was just the beginning and I was due to learn, that some things came with a price.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

**Adjustments**

When I woke up, for a short moment I was lost. At the thought, that some light would come very handy, instantly the soft glow of floating orbs illuminated the room. I found myself in an exquisitely carved and very comfortable canopy bed. Every muscle in my body screamed with pain when I tried to move. The room had no windows. Then the memories of the last few weeks flooded back into my brain. Of course. This wasn't New New York anymore, I was on a space ship. On the Doctor's space ship. With a groan, I pulled the blanket over my head and chose just not to respond to the rapping at the door.

It knocked again and finally after a half hearted "yes", the Doctor came in, a tray with some food and a stack of clothes in his hands and a pair of crutches under his arm. The rolled up sleeves of his shirt revealed bruises, that were covered in some semi translucent blue jelly. He still looked exhausted and a bit unsteady on his feet, too. But from under his mop of messy hair, he beamed merrily down at me and I was relieved to see, that he looked a hundred percent better than the night before. He put the tray at the bedside table and sat down in at the foot end of my bed, carefully, the injuries clearly still giving him some discomfort.

After all, no, all this seemed a bit too solid for a dream. Or a hallucination.

"You had a good night?"

I yawned heartily and rubbed the sleep out of my eyes "Yeah, I guess, I did. But I feel like I've been chewed up and spat out."

He nodded sympathetically, mumbled something like "sounds familiar", and folded back the blankets.

"What are you doing?"

"By the looks of this here, first aid" he replied, giving my hurting and obviously swollen ankle a professional glance. I propped myself up on my elbows to see, what he was doing and winced a little, when he pulled off the sock, but the touch of his fingers was cool and light.

"You lay back; this will take a little time." He ordered, then rummaged in the bag he had brought with him. I held my breath, when he wrapped some kind of cuff around my foot. I did as he had told me and sank back onto the cosy pile of pillows, admiring the delicate ornaments of the bed's brocade canopy and watching the Doctor. This place was, I had to remind myself, on an alien time ship and the guy, who was patching up my foot was an alien creature that looked astonishingly like a male homo sapiens. Was it creepy? Yes, I guess, it was, but this place had something enticingly homely and my extraterrestrial host seemed to be a nice guy.

"It's not broken, just sprained." He stated when he was done. " You were bleeding, where's that wound?"

I showed him my hand and noticed the blood stains on the sheets. He got up, disappeared behind a door and returned a moment later with a wet towel. He cleaned the wound and generously smeared some salve from a jar onto my palm.

"There. Disinfects, and when it's dried up, it's waterproof, unless you scrub it or soak it for too long. As for your foot, that cuff should speed up healing pretty much. You just leave it on. In a few days you'll be able to walk, until then..." he pointed to the crutches he had set down next to my bed. I tried to wriggle my toes. My foot still hurt. Although the cuff was cool, I had the impression, that the throbbing sensation in my foot had increased.

"So yesterday evening, I offered for you to travel with me, right?"

"Yeah, you did. You've had any second thoughts about that?"

"Oh no, no, not at all, just my brain's a bit scrambled right now and I have to keep track of things. I'm so sorry for what I've put you through! I really owe you! I promised you, so... ah... feel free to ask. Just, you are aware, that when you return home, all this is not for that magazine of yours, aren't you!" He fixed his stern gaze on me until I replied with an uneasy nod. I realized, that blazing abroad about all this could turn out to be a very bad idea. I had been burning to bombard him with questions. And now he even invited me to do so. But at that moment, I was lost for words. I was just too overwhelmed and aching. So he watched me for a while and continued when I didn't.

"Okay. Know what? You have breakfast now and probably you want to change. I had to guess the size, hope it fits. The bathroom is over there, behind that door. Now sort yourself out. I'm sorry, I won't be able to keep you that much company; I'll need a lot more rest. But if you have any serious problems, you can call me, I'll help. We have all the time there is."

"What do you mean, call? How? And there's just you? No crew or something?" I asked.

"Yeah. Just me. Guess it's the Lone Ranger syndrome." He smirked, "You just... call. Think it, or say it, whatever. My ship pays attention. She'll let me know." He grinned mysteriously, but when he saw that I was just puzzled, he turned sympathetically serious. "I guess, you already figured it out. With the light. Didn't you? Sorry, I didn't tell you. I was just too.... confused. There is a physical switch, too. The small ornament, that looks like a bee to your right." I turned my head and found the small wooden insect ornament in the carved panel of the bedpost, tugged at it and turned . The light became brighter. "But usually, as for the translation. Everything here works with the telepathic field. You can ask the Tardis your wishes. I just installed switches in some places for guests who can't get used to it at all. Same for the doors and the water in the bathroom. These are more obvious...."

"Your ship is........ telepathically supervising its passengers?" I cringed at this bizarre idea. He was talking about his ship with such affection and almost as if it was a sentient being that could just watch me.

"Nah. Not big brother. Just having an eye on you, so to speak. Letting me know, if something's wrong. I told her to do so. Usually, I'm not a control freak." It took me a moment to let that sink in. This ship was a whole different story compared to the technologies used by the Rutans, or anything I had seen in New New York. And I froze with fear, when I suddenly realized what that telepathy stuff actually could mean.

"Wait, can you read my thoughts, too, if your ship can?"

He raised an eyebrow in his trademark way and tousled his messy hair. "Naah..... Firstly, the Tardis isn't reading your mind. The translating service is automatic, for everything else you have to address her. She's not intruding and she's not intelligent the way you are, or I am. And secondly, no, I can't read your thoughts. Well, technically, yes I can. But with non telepathic species not without physical contact and a serious effort. And most telepathic species have a strong code of ethics about intruding someone's privacy." I gave him an incredulous look.

"I can't sneak into your head unnoticed while shaking hands either, you know. And I wouldn't want to, telepathic trespassing is just... well... extremely rude. Criminal. You wouldn't just enter somebody else's house to pry for secrets for the fun of it, would you? So no danger here for your mental privacy."

"Well, then... aye aye.... Captain Nemo!" I couldn't help being reminded of the eccentric scientist, who hid behind the pseudonym and cruised the depths of the ocean in his marvellous vessel.

An amused twinkle played in the Doctors eyes. "It's quite obvious, Jule's writing, isn't it? Our paths crossed when I was spending some time in 19th century France. He is a bit of a difficult character. I doubt, that you'd actually like him. Those weeks in hospital, you figured out, that I brought you not only to another planet but also to another time, didn't you?" I just nodded, when suddenly, and with a sharp intake of breath, his face contorted. He exhaled very slowly, relaxed somewhat and grinned apologetically, but that grin didn't reach his eyes.

"Sorry, I have to leave now! We can talk later, okay?"

He laid a crumpled sheet of paper onto my bed. „This is a sketch of the corridors to some rooms, that you might want to use. Please don't start wandering off. There is a substantial chance, that you could get lost and I don't want to go looking for you." A ship like that and he uses an old sheet of paper to sketch a map for me, I mused........

„At the moment I can guarantee, I won't get lost anywhere." I flexed my hands, „I have aches in parts of my body, that I didn't even knew I have."

„Yes, I thought, that you you can do with a little rest, too. I landed on a place that is called the Eye of Orion. It's an abandoned old earth colony, nobody knows about. Very peaceful. I come here when I need a break. Well, sort of.... So please, be my guest, make yourself at home!"

He got up, and without a word, picked up his sonic screwdriver from my bedside table. Half way out of the door he turned back to me „I forgot, please don't touch the console. Don't go swimming in the ocean, the currents are dangerous. And if all this is getting a bit too dense, let me know and we can talk. Just don't commit suicide or something." He gave me a crooked grin. „Just, for the moment, I really need some time to sort out my brains. Maybe I'll see you for dinner, but I can't promise. Is all that okay for you?"

I nodded. He looked tired. Exhausted. It was okay. In some strange way I couldn't help but trust him.

"Yeah. Fine for me. Take your time. Just one more question, what year do we have now?"

"Oh" He stared into empty space for a moment, "It must be... about....112,000 and something BC. Is that a problem for you?"

"No, no, not at all. I was just curious. I think, I'll get used to it."

He got up, for a moment, an amused grin lit up his face; then he turned to the door and left.

I was hungry. Carefully, I sat up and had a closer look at the food. It was an odd kind of warm pastry that obviously went with the cup of blue-ish sauce and a huge chunk of marble cake. I gorged on both, flushed it down with the Earl Grey, and just wondered, how, with such delicious food on board, my host could be such a beanpole. Then I angled for the crutches. In the living room I found something that turned out to be an advanced hi-fi system. To the beats of the 2017 album "Let's Shut It Down" by the punk rock band The Flying Pancakes, I hobbled on my three legs to the bathroom and soaked myself in the luxuriously large bathtub for two hours. When my aching muscles were somewhat loosened up by the hot water, I got dressed, and since there was absolutely nothing to do, I decided to explore my new abode. With the map in hand I found a library, several large rooms, shelves crammed with writings from all over time and space, starting with Egyptian papyri and chests with clay tablets to Shakespeare first editions and even a few handwritten manuscripts, to alien stuff. When I took a closer look, all of it translated neatly into English, thanks to the Doctor's miracle translating machine. My tour brought me to an astonishing Roman bath with mosaics, swimming pool, sauna, marble statues, all probably original antique, with the exception of the occasional odd and out of place alien artefact the Doctor had thrown in here and there, and then to several greenhouse halls with the most bizarre plant life. The kitchen and dining hall looked completely alien in design, blue and silver enamel like surfaces plus a dining table with carved Renaissance chairs and a few sofas in one corner. And what looked suspiciously like Da Vinci drawings of various animals at one of the walls. Originals! I found food store rooms. I sniffed a few unrecognizable and strange things, that the Doctor seemed to have a taste for, probably he didn't want to poison me, but I decided to stick to familiar looking foodstuff I found.

I decided to climb up the stairs to have a look at the place where he had landed. In the control room, I took a curious look at the odd jumble that made up the console. Probably it was a bad idea to mess with a time machine so I resisted the temptation to touch it.

When I took the doors and opened them, I felt very much like a kid at Christmas, holding my breath in excitement. Out there was a landscape, that reminded me mesmerizingly of the Irish coast, hadn't it been for the two pale moons in the sky. Rolling green hills were dotted with a few groves and in some distance cliffs and then an ocean stretching to the horizon, sparkling in the setting sun. I startled a nearby herd of wild goats, they fled, when I stepped out of the ship, into the light of an alien sun, casting a long shadow on the green grass. I deeply inhaled the warm, salty air. There was just one word to describe the scenery: Peaceful!

Having a walk was unfeasible with my leg, so I sat down, leaning my back against the warm wood of the Tardis, just as if it was any ordinary shed. I watched the sunset turn the sky orange, pink and then deep violet, until the first stars of strange constellations started to speckle the ink blue firmament and a third moon rose.

The Doctor didn't show up for dinner. I roamed the corridors alone, the faint, soothing hum of the Tardis' machine, some music and the Doctor's highly unusual collection of books kept me company. The next day I packed up some food, a good book and a blanket and made myself comfortable in the shade of the Tardis. Having a picnic in the shade of a space ship on a lovely alien world was definitely something, that I could become attuned to. I just bit into a pickled turnip when a mop of messy hair peeked around the corner.

"Ah, there you are!" its owner exclaimed. Hands buried deeply in his trouser pockets, he gave what was on my plate a most stern gaze, but my sense of taste must have passed his test. "Hmm, good choice there." He commented. "But you do know, that eating too much of the Chou Tsi turnips will dye your skin pink..." He gave me another serious gaze. I gave the vegetable a scrutinizing look and put it back onto the plate, the Doctor yawned heartily, stretched and then sat down at the other end of the blanket and rested his back comfortably against the Tardis.

"So you're feeling better today? You certainly look better."

He picked up a banana and peeled it, "Definitely better, yes,not okay but better. I haven't properly thanked you for bailing me out in New New York, didn't I? You like my Tardis?"

"Sure, your ship is fabulous! Nice place for a holiday, just on the long run I'd miss some night life. And you don't have some beer on board?" His frowned at that question, his disgusted expression made it quite clear, that he was not a great fan of mind altering substances.

"So why exactly did the cats capture you? Because you travel time?" I asked him.

"Yeah.. I know a lot of things. And my biology has certain.. well... features... First they planned to squeeze me like a lemon for interesting knowledge and then they would have killed me."

"And left me stranded in New New York?"

"Yeah. I don't suppose, she cared much for your fate. Which would have had terrible consequences by the way." His mind trailed off for a moment. "So, tell me, how did you do it?"

"How did I do what?"

"Find me. Did you have help? Maybe Arian, or Kelder? Or Dr. Halys? Is anyone in trouble, do they need help?" I flinched. Eventually he would have raised that question, but I wasn't exactly prepared, that he touched this tricky subject right there, head on and hesitated for a moment.

„No, I didn't have any help. I was alone. I had no idea, who I could trust." I told him truthfully. I had planned to lie to him, but now, I didn't dare. I just didn't have the background knowledge to pull it off convincingly, eventually he'd find out. I saw the Doctor's jaw drop and after a moment he just asked the dreaded question,

„How?"


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

**Revelations**

The Doctor was watching me vigilantly. I hesitated to continue; he ice was getting really thin here. "I... I worked out how to use your sonic screwdriver on the computer system, I watched you doing it on the Rutan spaceship. When they attacked you, I looked up Xenobiology patients files, lab room layout and used the construction plans to find a way to get there. I didn't have help."

With narrow eyes, he stared at me, his face expressionless. For quite some time. Then very kindly he continued. "You've done this on your own? This is just brilliant! You're a genius, figuring out how to work my sonic screwdriver all by yourself, without blowing up anything!" He raised an eyebrow and his expression became grandfatherly grave, "Now, tell me, have you, by chance, looked up... erm... anything ... ah... else in the databases of New New York? I mean, not naked girls, that kind of thing..."

Our eyes met. A hot surge of panic nearly flooded my brain.

"Well... I... I ... I mean, nobody was telling me what was going on and I had no idea if you returned at all ... so... so... I broke into the database and found the university library. I had seen how the sonic screwdriver was set before you gave it to me, when you had used it onto the Rutan ship computer and I assumed that would be the right one to override computer systems."

He nodded thoughtfully. "But you probably knew I might not approve of it, didn't you?"

"Yeah. I guessed so. I had a suspicion that you might be travelling in time from the beginning. But when it actually worked ... what I found... it was just too... fascinating" I added with husky voice. "And as I've said, I had no idea, if you returned at all."

"And you still came looking for me, to save me? You could have stayed in New New York, if you hadn't."

"I wasn't sure if I'd be really that welcome there. And you saved earth, and you saved my life...and I thought, that I, ah... maybe if I just didn't tell you... and when I assumed, that you might be in danger, actually I... I didn't care." I looked at him like a sheep about to be slaughtered. But he didn't. He just sighed and rubbed his temples, with an expression somewhere between affection and despair.

"You thought, you just wouldn't tell me, ey?" he replied very kindly. I shrugged under his gaze, the concern in his voice making me awkward.

"So what exactly have you seen on the database?" he inquired. And winced, when I named a lengthy list of topics.

"How much of it did you understand?"

"This and that." I named a few things. "A general idea. But I'm sure I can eventually work out more of it. That's not really good, is it?" I concluded my confession.

He shook his head. "No... Not really good. That's a lovely euphemism..."

"And now, when you bring me back, I will change history or something? What will you do to me? Erase my memory, like in some science fiction movie? Or not allow me to return home at all?" I asked him ruefully. Only now the full realisation of what I had done dawned onto me. And it hit me to the core. My whole existence and future suddenly seemed to collapse around me like a house of cards.

The Doctor sat there in silence for a long time, pondering and then exhaled with a heavy sigh. "David, if there is one thing in this universe that is dangerous, it's not weapons. It's knowledge. Knowledge, and sometimes even good intentions. Knowledge is like a plague. Once it's there, it spreads and then it can't be purged. Sometimes I feel it had been better if the technology for space travel and particularly time travel had never been invented. Oh, I shouldn't have left you there on your own. This is all my fault."

"But I could only save you because I broke into that computer!" I attempted a weak protest.

"You wouldn't have needed to, if I hadn't been so reckless." He dismissed my argument.

He sighed again and continued, very carefully choosing his words, "See, unless it's a matter of life and death and there's absolutely no other solution, I don't mess with people's memories. I hate it. Broke my heart last time I didn't have another choice."

Melancholy softened his voice and for a moment he seemed to be far away, until the shrieking of some seagulls yanked him out of his musing. In a strange way, this alien appeared to be much more humane and vulnerable then so many of my fellow humans. He seemed to be somebody who had seen a lot. Maybe too much, I wondered.

"You will not allow me to return then?"

With an ironic smile he replied: "Oh, yes, I've no choice there, David Barnham. Because I'd be the one who changes history if I don't send you back. Or on the other hand, if I send you back with that knowledge. You see, I'm really between a rock and a hard place here."

"But I'm just a journalist! What's so important about me? Could you return me to New New York and help me establish a life there?"

"No! I can't. Because it might be... one day... you might make some, have to make some... contribution... back in your time and place."

The memory of how he had recognized my name on my press badge hit me like a flush of cold water.

When I had collected myself to a point where I could think clearly again,very hesitantly I asked him: "Why are you telling me this? What exactly are you driving at?"

"David, I'm a time traveller. There are rules to my... well... lifestyle. Can't afford to change events and leave behind chaos! You are living in a place, earth, 21st century. I'm living in a time line. I have to make sure that some things happen as they happen. So that other things can happen as they are supposed to happen. In this time line. And your life is one of these things that have to happen. As it happened... See, I'm deeply entangled in some of these events. And it gets more and more obvious to me, that us meeting is... well... important for some changes in your life. But it seems now, everything went awry. With what took me so long to return." He looked shaken and distressed.

"I'm so sorry! You ending up with all this knowledge! My plan was to make sure that you pick up only the right pieces and keep you away from the hot stuff . But now you merrily browsed this database for three weeks, like a five year old kid that got loose in a candy store!"

I realized more and more, he actually knew my future! But he wouldn't tell me!

He continued, carefully, in an honest attempt to explain. "You see, that butterfly analogy is bullshit. At least most of the time. The time line can take quite some tampering at some ends. Many events are very much in flux. But there are others. Fixed points in time. And what you'll do is one of these fixed points. Like a pillar carrying a building. You can refurnish the time line a little, decorate differently, even break down certain walls and add a winter garden, but never mess with the carrying structure of a building! Human history would evolve differently if the content of your head changes your future, and the future of earth in the wrong way. So, if you refuse to cooperate to sort out this mess with me, I'm having a problem. A really serious one. My version of the future might be destroyed forever! Irreversibly."

It took me some time to digest what the Doctor had just told me about the consequences all this had for him.

"So do I get this right? This is about a set future? I have to go back and do what? Let me guess. An alien Watergate on earth. And I reveal it. Or will I turn back to be a physicist and do something important there. Or do I have to father a child that will become important, with a woman that now I'll maybe never meet?"

He hesitated to answer, running a hand through his hair, "Hm... well, yes, apparently something roughly in that direction"

"What! Will I become famous? You knew my name, obviously for some reason..." I dug on.

"Aah... yeah... I did. Now don't you dare let that get to your head!" Was all he replied, stubbornly refusing to go into more detail. "You are definitely not known for introducing solar activity control technology."

"And if I don't do it right, what's going to happen? A time paradox?"

"Not a grade one time paradox. You'd cause a major paradox mainly by crossing your own time line. Meeting yourself, killing your father, things like that." he assured me.

"This here would cause a change of time line, the creation of a whole new time line. The whole time line, as it was, including New New York, would just cease to exist in favour for another version of future. And this wouldn't be a good change for human history. And not only human history." He sighed, "You know, things are not going terribly well, universally speaking. But believe me, there is still plenty of room for deterioration."

"But how can you know that? Maybe things improve, if I introduce some of this knowledge on earth! Or if you did, for that matter..." I asked him hopefully.

"No, David. Things will not improve." I shrugged under his gaze. "I know a little about the infinite possibilities, what might happen, what has to, what will not, what must not. I'm not omniscient or something. And I am not infallible. Quite far from it actually, if I was, a lot of terrible things would have never happened! Let's just say I can sense possibilities. Or impossibilities. Time is not exactly what you think it is... it is more like... well it's really hard to explain. It is not as linear as you may think, sometimes, but in other cases it is."

He fell silent. I remembered what I had seen in his eyes the other day, for that short moment. It made me shudder.

When he broke the silence again, he visibly struggled to find the right words,

"Oh sorry, I'm so sorry to ask this of you... I wish I hadn't, not to somebody who just risked his own life to save mine... I told you all this so that you understand what I have to ask of you..."

He took a deep breath and started again. No matter what he aimed at, by now I was pretty sure I wouldn't like it.

"See, somehow, I have to turn you into the David Barnham that you are supposed to become in my time line. The only solution I see is to check your memories and ... and ... wipe out everything that you are not supposed to know. It's not painful, or anything. You just wouldn't remember the bits you have seen on the database and the hints about your future. And neither would you remember the fact that I wiped it out. As if it had never happened. That's all. I leave all your other memories of your life, me, this here and the events of the last weeks completely untouched. And then we can travel a little and I set your life into the direction it is supposed to take. Do you trust me? Can I have your consent for this?"

He wanted to manipulate my memories! I was lost for words. I had assumed that something roughly in that direction was going to come and it scared the hell out of me.

"If you reveal any of those things, it is even worse than if I don't send you back at all. But I'd just hate to do it against your will." He continued. I swallowed hard and stared back at him, horrified.

"I can really understand how you feel and if I saw any better way... I won't hurt you! I promise! And you have no idea what's going to happen to you, if you return to 21st century earth with that knowledge and anyone finds out. It's really for your own good, too, not just for mine."

"Do I have a choice then? You can force me, can't you?"

"Yes. I can force you." he replied quietly, and after a moment added, "And I'd have to."

I should have hated him. Feared him. Regretted that I had bailed him out. Made plans to escape. But his honesty and the sudden misery, pain and helplessness in those eyes touched me in a way that I just couldn't feel anything but compassion for him. I was sitting there, gazing out over the deep blue, alien ocean, for quite a while, unable to speak, trying to sort out my emotions.

Finally I broke the silence, "Doctor, just answer me one question."

He nodded. "Anything."

"What exactly are you?"

"I'm what's usually called a Time Lord."

I looked up, surprised, "I read about them. On the database. One of the mythical races. Said to be long extinct. Eradicated by a war."

He raised an eyebrow. "I see. You did research about time travel, too. Thoroughly. Well, for a myth, I'm quite alive, am I not?" He swallowed and took a deep breath before he continued, "And yes. There was a war. I happen to be the only surviving Time Lord."

It was definitely not just his physical pain that showed now.

Following a sudden impulse, I asked him, very gently "You have been there, have seen it happen, haven't you?"

He stared back at me, startled, shocked. And for a moment I was afraid I had crossed a line that would have been better left untouched. But the sudden flash of emotion on his face turned into melancholy and he lowered his gaze.

"Yeah, you are right about that, too." he whispered softly.

He fell silent and his thoughts trailed off.

After a while I nodded slowly, "Okay. Do it!"

"Thank you so much! I wish our meeting hadn't turned out like this! Believe me, I really wish!" he replied softly.

I cleared my throat in the awkward silence that followed "So, you want to do...ah ... it... now?"

"What? Oh that, no, not now. I have to concentrate to do it. My brain is still far away from fully functional. Would be a bad idea to try now. I need some more time to heal."

He mustered a tired smile, grabbed himself some of the food, and we ate in silence; it bothered him obviously as much as me.

After this memorable lunch, the Doctor vanished again. I got myself a deck chair and a pile of novels from the library. The weather was warm but not too hot, just right. Idling under an alien sun with two pale moons in the sky was not so bad; at least when I put what happened or was going to happen in my personal future to the back end of my mind.

The Doctor spent most of his time somewhere on the Tardis or in a hammock, in a shady grove nearby, resting. I didn't disturb him there. Sometimes I saw him sitting at the edge of the cliffs, looking out over the ocean or doing maintenance work on this weird thing of a ship.

When I met him in the kitchen or the console hall, he was a most caring and attentive host, telling me weird jokes and even weirder stories, answering at least some of my questions, politely ignoring others. Probably because he didn't want to add knowledge to the pile that he later had to erase anyway. He made it quite easy to forget, who and what he was and take him just for some eccentric guy who by chance happened to own a time ship. His usual energy returned, I got pretty much used to him and his quirks, and would have started to enjoy his company.

If he hadn't planned to mess with my head.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

**For Whom The Bell Tolls**

My foot got better within the next few days, the hot and steady summer weather lured me out of the Tardis a lot of the time. Maybe a week into this dolce farniente holiday, the Doctor dropped in on me on the way back from his afternoon walk with a basket full of crumply, brownish fruits. He threw a few into my lap.

„Take some; they look disgusting but taste delicious."

He leaned casually against the boulder at my feet, watching me try one of the sticky things. I broke out in cold sweat, the way he looked at me had something, that was hard to place, that definitely hadn't been there the days before.

"They're good" I agreed. „But I guess, feeding me up is not the reason you stopped by, is it?" I had a pretty good idea, what he was up to and swallowed down the lump in my throat. „So now is the time, isn't it? Do we have to go to the Tardis?"

He shook his head. „Nah, it's fine here." Swallowing the second half of a fruit, he wiped his hands clean on his trousers.

„What do I have to do then?"

He made himself comfortable on the grass. „Nothing. Come here, sit down facing me."

I did so. Reluctantly. My precious memories! They had opened the door to such a fantastic, new understanding of the universe! What would the Time Lord do to me? It was _my_ mind, and it was _now_. I didn't care for time lines or millenia to come anymore. I was desperately afraid of him intruding my innermost privacy. Through all self control, my horror and the urge to jump up and run as far away as I could was just too obvious.

He took my hands, „Easy, I'm not going to hurt you. And I'll try my best to keep away from any of your other memories. I promise! I guess, you got pretty attached to that knowledge, didn't you? I wish, there was another way..." I wished that too. He gazed gently but too intently into my eyes. I did my best to overcome the fit of panic, but with little success. He released my hands and quickly touched my temples, he got me unprepared, before I was able to evade him.

„Let go! Don't fight."

But I panicked. For a moment I was falling, drowning in these dark whirlpools that drew me in. I struggled, wanted to scream but couldn't. Then, after that claustrophobic moment, suddenly everything became bright, caring warmth washed over me and eased my confusion. In some very strange way, I wasn't alone, but it was fine. Not painful or frightening. As if a soft voice whispered into my ears. And then, slowly, I lost myself more and more to that voice...

The next thing I became aware of was the chirping of the cicadas. I felt a pricking my back and my head rested on something soft. When I opened my eyes, I was looking up into the bright blue vastness of the sky. The Doctor, sitting in my chair, eating the rest of the fruit, was watching me.

He had wanted to clean up my memories. He had told me, I wouldn't remember a thing. But he had failed. I did remember. The initial shock, and the unlikely sensation of somehow not being alone in myself, and the university library...

I propped myself up on my elbows and shook my head, „What! That was... strange! What happened?" I blinked at him.

„Couldn't do it."

"Why?"

"You've got photographic memory, haven't you?" I replied with a baffled nod.

„Hm, unusual... for a human... I found a lot, downloaded from the database there, unprocessed and unaltered, straight into your memory. Would have turned your orderly and organized memories into a Swiss cheese."

„I thought, Swiss cheese was the point of the exercise!" I replied sarcastically, holding my head, trying to figure out if anything in there was still as it was supposed to be, if that strange procedure had left any remnants.

„Yes, yes... See, erasing a bit here and there in an overall chaotic mind is easy; humans are so terribly distracted... They forget most things anyway, and with some help... stimulating this process a little... . Like if you have a huge pile of notepads. Nobody will notice if a few are empty or missing.

But the way you memorize," he wrinkled his brows and shirked his gaze when our eyes met. "Especially when the gaps I stamp out become too extensive, you could sense the gap where there should be something. Like numbered pages missing in a book. Parts of these tampered memories might start to feel contradictory. You would know, or at least guess, that you must have been manipulated. You might get over it, or at least arrange with it, but, especially for a human, it is quite likely, that you drive yourself crazy about what's wrong with you. And how it went wrong. You will quite certainly connect this mess to me. I don't ever want to visit you in a psychiatric ward."

I didn't like the idea of the psychiatric ward either, „So you can't send me back?"

„The problem is, I have to! The question now is just, how." He buried his head in his hands, uttered a low, frustrated groan and then rubbed the back of his neck.

„And what, if you just leave me with that knowledge, you instruct me exactly what to use and I keep everything else strictly for myself, for the rest of my life?"

His looked up, his reaction to that unusually sharp. „No! That must not happen! Not with what you've got in your head!"

He reined in his temper and continued more thoughtfully, „ You have made serious plans to build a molecular synthesizer, did you?"

"Erm.. yeah...guilty as charged, I'd say...!" I replied ruefully. He must have seen that on his trip through my mind, so no use to try squirming out of it. "Custom tailored molecules, new drugs to cure all kinds of diseases..."

"Genetic engineering, biological weapons... David, a molecular synthesis on 21st century earth, that's just no go! Can't let that happen..." I nodded silently.

"And can you guarantee, that there will never be a time, when circumstances are pressing, that you will just copy down a few of these blueprints in your head? As a quick solution? With the best of intentions, just to end some suffering you find unbearable to watch? And it might be a solution. In the short term. But then this knowledge changes the time line forever, to much greater disaster. You remember what I told you about good intentions?

Or if the wrong people get a clue that you might know more then you reveal. Oh, they find a way to make you talk, believe me. Like professor Xian, a renowned scientist, who was eagerly throwing away my life, when she found out what I am. It's a lot easier to make you talk than me! Are plasma cannons in the hands of some 21st century lunatics such a good idea? Or a solar flare inducer? And how do I know that you don't sell it for money or give it out for fame, or blab when you are drunk, on drugs, inattentive, or for some other stupid reason. Like impressing a lover? I can't know that. Not even you can. I just know that after returning you, the next trip into the future might bring me to a future that is one of complete chaos, not the one I know."

He sighted and continued more quietly "See, even if it is a source of a lot of cruelty and injustice, the human race colonizing space, as it happens in my time line, is a balancing force in the inhabited universe. Compared to other forces. It must stay that way."

He didn't have to add `at all cost'. His expression made it very clear what was at the stake for him. I nodded. I could understand the dilemma he was in.

He swallowed and continued, slowly, hesitantly,

„There are still other options. For example, to wipe your mind of the last weeks, including myself completely, and then I bring you back home shortly after the shuttle crash, with complete amnesia. Then we don't have problems with subtle gaps driving you crazy. Because that's as drastic as a black out after a drunk night. Nothing subtle there, even if you would wonder very much, what had just happened." He forced a laugh.

„But then I had to stay away from you, because I can't erase that much completely, a lot of it would be merely suppressed. Being around me could trigger it... Quite unpredictable...So I would have to get somebody else to push you down the right path, spoon feeding you things, hinting what to do with it. Although I feel, it is not a very likely possibility. Of all the infinite possibilities, it doesn't feel ….right. And anyway, I hate to lose friends like this..."

He sighed, „This is getting more and more out of hand." He cocked his head and looked up at me, „ The more one gets entangled into manipulation, the worse it gets. I am a bit at a dead end here."

"So surely there are some advanced drugs, there is no... chemical means... to erase my memories of the last month? You have to use the telepathic mind wipe?"

"Yep. I'm afraid so. There is an amnesiac drug that's safe for two or three days. As soon as it's burned into the long term memory, drugs are risky and the result is unpredictable."

I watched him uneasily scratching his head.

„Doctor, if this is the only option, if there is no other way...I … I." I mustered al all my courage to finish the sentence „If you think it's necessary, we have to do it that way. I don't want to make your life any more difficult, than it already is. And I have to say, having known you was a pleasure."

He looked up and watched me, his expression revealing the emotional turmoil boiling up in his mind, then he bowed his head and whispered.

„I appreciate this offer, David. Really, I do."

For a long time he just sat there in silence.

„No, there is one more option. Also one I rather don't want to offer you. But you have to trust me for that! If I erase the memories of your ventures into the database, everything you saw there and what I told you. And leave the memory, that I've done it. If you understand it and know, that it was necessary, and agree with it, the gaps should not drive you insane and my presence will not trigger anything. At least not as long as you trust me. Does this make sense?"

It did make sense.

"But I have to tell you, it will feel like a scar on your mind. At times it can bother you. I know, how it it is, to live with tampered memories. Do you think, you are up to that?"

I didn't even want to know, who had done this to him. And for what reason. Slowly, all this got too much. The Doctor seemed to sense the imminent emotional breakdown all this caused me. He sat there, slouched, and looked at me so heartbroken, that it made me feel awkward.

„I'm so sorry for what I've done to you, David! Please, believe me!"

He was earnestly meaning, what he said. This situation burdened him as much as me.

Then he he pulled himself together and managed a weary smile, „Come on, why don't we just have a walk and a nice dinner and forget this whole impossible story. Just for now... „

The rest of the day, he did his very best to cheer me up and get my mind off from what lay before both of us. He wasn't overly successful, still, I really appreciated, that he tried...


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

**Timey Wimey**

Later that evening, we went to the cliffs and settled down on the rocks to watch another sunset over the ocean. Deep below us, the waves of the alien seas roared with relentless fury against the rocks.

It took me a while to open the conversation. Most of the time, the Doctor was quite a blabbermouth, sometimes I definitley missed a button to switch him off, but that evening he had become remarkably taciturn. That gave me a lot of room to for reflections.

"Doctor, you've got a time machine." I finally broke the silence. "Why don't you go, visit me in say 2040, we have a chat, and you ask me how we solved it! Or you buy a biography if I'm such an important person. Or you go back in time to tonight before the shuttle crashed and wreck my car, then I'm unable to get to the crash site in time, and you can pick me up somewhere in the afternoon."

"Mmmmh, what?" I brought him back to the here and now, from wherever in time and space he had just had wandered off to, "Oh! Cutting your tyres...yes. See, that's crossing into established events -one of the main reasons for time paradox effects. You don't really want to know what that can cause... the reapers and all... The biography, I have one in my library. I just read it the other night. There's nothing about aliens in there. You played in the university theatre group, there was some heartbreak. And apparently parties, the occasional drug use and a serious brawl that got you almost kicked from campus, too?"

He eyed me inquiringly, I mumbled an embarrassed reply.

"You gave up working on your dissertation when you had a serious personal conflict with your doctoral advisor; you ventured into scientific journalism for a few years. It states, you found theoretical astrophysics was at a point of mere speculations. You wanted to help making science more accessible to everyone and you doubted that theoretical physics would earn you a living anyway, so you turned to journalism when somebody offered you the job."

I nodded.

"But then turned... ah, pardon, you'll turn back to physics and reconcile with your doctoral advisor. It gives no clear idea what caused this change of mind. Just some blah-blah about some inspiration, and then pulling together the strings that had always been there, some more blah-blah. Nothing clear at all. Apart from lecturing, you took on a rather secluded lifestyle in the later part of your life."

"A secluded lifestyle! Me? And I will reconcile with... that...idiot! Never!" I burst out. These revelations about my future life sounded absolutely horrifying!

"This is still my life!" I burst out. "You're sure, it's my biography you are talking about?"

"Yeah. It is. And you will! That man isn't an idiot!" he replied dangerously quiet.

"By the way, these facts stand against a complete mind wipe. Meddling with memories is one thing, messing with people's intentions and habits is a completely different business. You have to reconcile with that man! You both will be quite close later in your life. And by the way, you have to get a hand on your chaotic love and family life! And brawling, drinking and drugs are over! Stop! Offending! People!" He hit every word with deadly emphasis.

I rolled my eyes in despair. He couldn't be serious! He turned out to be even worse than my mother!

Suddenly all the light heartedness, humour and patience I had come to appreciate so much vanished from him, as if they had never existed. He hardly raised his voice when he continued; shrouded in a glorious halo of cold rage, like some dark, alien archangel, glaring at me.

"I see. Setting YOU on the right track will be a challenge! Now STOP behaving like a petulant three year old. GROW UP!"

I sat there, terrified. He had not been fierce in any way to me before and I had a feeling, that I had just scratched the edge of what he could be like if he got really angry. It had the desired effect... Pissing off the Time Lord seemed not to be such a good idea anymore.

He looked at me to see if he could find any remaining resistance there and I must have passed the test. His expression softened to grandfatherly understanding, with an almost playful, triumphant sparkle in his eyes.

"Good! That's settled then!" He went on crisply, obviously satisfied, leaving me shaken, and shocked and sobered, as if, without warning, the sky had fallen down on me.

"And you know why?" He continued very kindly, but I shrugged under his intent gaze. "Because you don't need any of that crap. You're maybe a bit messed up, but you're definitely a good person. Just be confident!"

I didn't answer to that, and tried my best not to show my boiling emotions. Inwardly, I squirmed, but my standard aggressive reaction to anything getting too emotionally close was not really an option on him. The thing I didn't want to discuss with a freaking telepathic alien was my psyche and my private life. Fortunately, he dropped the subject and continued casually, as if nothing had happened.

"About visiting you 2040... This here is a junction, David. The time line might be already slightly altered. If I go into the future from this perspective we have now, into your personal future, I can't be sure what time line I'll find. If it's already an altered one, I couldn't get back to you and change it again. There are things that mustn't be done with time travel, and this is one of them, jumping around, juggling with infinite possibilities. Because it causes horrible disasters. No, we have to decide what to do here. I have to decide it here. On the basis of what we have. And there's no room for mistakes."

He looked up, straight into my eyes. I closed mine quickly. After his attempt to wipe my memory, looking into his eyes too deeply gave me the goosebumps. After a long period of silence, I continued, cautiously choosing the words, hoping not to offend him again after his outbreak.

"So, you say I become something like what? Let me guess... a famous physicist? What will my dissertation be about? And how will I die? I mean, you'll erase these memories anyway, right? So please do me this one favour and tell me! Just for now!"

Contrary to my expectation, my requests didn't provoke another outburst of anger. He just hesitated for some time. And then gave in.

"Well... Okay! Of all people... You deserve it. I can't tell you how or when you'll die. And I have no idea who can. You'll live to a ripe old age and then, one night, you'll just disappear without a trace. It's a big mystery... Hm... Maybe one day I should go and find out." He mused.

I just gaped at the Doctor, who flicked some dirt off his jacket, obviously not entirely comfortable to reveal so much so openly.

"So! The title of your dissertation? It's A theory of gravity, dark matter and the multidimensional nature of the universe. First work on that field in human history that actually makes sense, after all that overrated wormhole crap. But what's even more important for humanity, later you'll work on the theoretic background to fusion powered engines. That will make human interstellar space travel possible. They'll award you with the Nobel Prize. Or, they'll try. Three times, actually. But you'll refuse to accept."

Right! I will get awarded with the Nobel Prize! And turn it down! Several times! That was some breathtaking news about my future... Of course I knew, how fusion engines worked, I had spent enough time in that university library back in New New York. But without these memories? I heavily doubted, that I'd be able to pull that off.

"Hm... Do you have a copy of the dissertation somewhere, by any chance?"

The Doctor looked up and I watched his jaw drop. He got a shade paler, ruffled his unruly mop of hair with both hands and then stared at me.

"Of course! I have a copy!" He declared.

Without another word, he jumped up and headed for the Tardis with long, hurried strides. I slowly made my way there too, wondering, what tarantula had bitten him.

Half an hour later he found me in the kitchen, a book, bound in grey cardboard in his hand.

"Here it is!" He slumped down in one of the Renaissance chairs and carefully weighed his words.

"See, I've met Professor Barnham - you- once before."

That news blew my mind... "What?"

"Yeah. It's true! From my perspective, it was very long time ago. But for you it'll be 2047. Spring. I looked different then, an earlier regeneration, third one, anyway... I am a lot older than I look by human standards. And I can instead of dying, regenerate my body a few times. Take on another physical form... You read about this on the database; it's what Xian wanted to experiment on... Doesn't matter now... anyway... Should have recognized you straight away when I saw you, at the crash site..."

"So you know me?" I gasped.

He nodded. "Mmmmh. Yeah. But that was really a very long time ago. For me. And I wouldn't exactly call a short meeting knowing. I just dropped in on him - you- for a cup of tea when I was accidently in the area. I had frequent steering problems with the Tardis back then." He gave me one of his crooked grins.

"So I took the chance to meet Barnham; I was curious about the old genius. When I told him -you- just to call me the Doctor, it didn't bother him, he just asked me if we had met before. I hadn't, I told him. I spent an afternoon with him. He was most friendly to me and enthusiastic about my visit but he didn't show any signs of recognition. As far as I know, he was very open minded and generally enjoyed having colleagues visiting for a chat. Showing them his greenhouse full of magnificent tropical orchids and the huge, overgrown garden. He was famous for referring to himself just as some stupid old maths teacher and for his enthusiasm for helping the kids in the neighbourhood with their homework, rather than being the guest of honour at conferences. He just said his work was done and life is more than mathematic calculations. He supported all kinds of environmental and humanitarian organisations."

I listened to the Doctor, amazed and speechless about my future...

"I wonder now. When it comes to wiping your mind, I can't have done the complete version. You were pretending not to know me, because you didn't want to corrupt my time line! Anyway...when I left, he wished me a good time and gave me this book as a farewell. He signed it for me. I never seriously read it because I'm familiar with the content anyway. I have an extensive autograph collection of important scientists from all over the universe. Hobby of mine, hunting for autographs..."

He smirked and handed me the book. "Here! Read it. After all, maybe it's more than a souvenir!"

The title of the shabby volume was faded, it read "A theory of gravity, dark matter and the multidimensional nature of the universe" Holding this old book, my own old book in my hands gave me the creeps.

The first page carried a signature that looked eerily familiar. I looked down at my own scribbling, under a printed dedication, petrified. I read out loud what was written there.

"This work is dedicated to the one person who opened me the doors to knowledge, brightens my days and will be my friend forever."

The Doctor blinked; we looked at each other in bewildered silence.

I slowly flipped through pages of mathematic calculations and explanatory text. When I arrived at the end, I found something else.

"There is some epilogue, too."

"What does it say?" The Doctor asked.

"If there is one thing in the universe that is dangerous, it is not weapons. It is knowledge. With great knowledge comes great responsibility. May whoever holds this in hands handle knowledge responsibly, so that the future of mankind may be safe. NYUSA."

The Doctor looked at me with an unreadable non expression on his face.

"NYUSA!"

"Hm, yes." he replied carefully, after a while. "Barnham lived and worked -_you_ will live and work- in the USA for a long time, later in your life. New York University. Ironic, isn't it? When I visited Barnham, he lived at his estate in upstate New York. You seem to have kept an affinity to New York... "

"Yes. I must have! NYUSA is also the official abbreviation for the scientific archives of New New York's university! Doctor, this book wasn't printed in the USA. It's the first edition from England, from the year 2014. This book is the message! I'm maybe a solid mathematician. But I know one thing; I'm not the new Einstein, Doctor. This work is groundbreaking! But it's not my work. And it'll never be. I can understand this, sure, teach it. But thinking it up, with a few inspirations only, in four years. That's beyond me. Measured to this, I'll never be more than just some simple maths teacher."

The Doctor stared at me, in eerie silence. Then he nodded, thoughtfully.

"Yes. I can see now. When you offered me to sacrifice your memories, allowed me to manipulate your future, when you offered me that much, I should have known. That you deserve more of my trust, too! Seems, you've been quite good at keeping secrets, all those years... I was very wrong!"

So my future was set. I took a deep breath of moist, salty air, and shakily exhaled, clearing my mind of the chaos that all this news caused me. It dawned on me, that from now on, I had to live with it! I hadn't wanted him to erase my memories. But now, ironically as it was, I had to live with them. The burden of knowledge. And I wasn't sure anymore if the latter was so much better...

Now travelling time and space was not on the program anymore. He decided to postpone that and promised me an 'Earth from Cambrium to Palaeolithicum' tour and a live supernova explosion I had asked of him for later. He appeared to be slightly bored by what I wanted to see anyway, only rolling his eyes...

We spent the next days working out how to get me back into my old, new life as smoothly as possible. Namely to teleport me into the shuttle wreck a few moments after our departure to the Rutan mother ship.

He organised me a suit, like the one I had worn on the crash day and a new press badge. I can tell you, if you ever come across the Doctor, never try to go shopping with him! It's just... well... you have to find out for yourself... there is a tendency with him to end up in trouble... and for a member of some grand old civilisation he can behave embarrassingly silly... Then, at last, he got a bucket full of the proper rubble and dust to give me the authentic crash day finish.

"What are they going to do with me? I'm a civilian. I haven't committed a crime. Technically, they have no right to take me into custody, do they?" I asked him when we had dinner, between two delicious bites of something that he had introduced to me as roasted Ractacorian flesh eating eggplant.

"Oh, probably confine you for a few days. Trespassing, something like that..." He mumbled, mouth full, carefully avoiding cutting himself on the fangs of his plant tentacle and then licking his fingers. "For your own safety of course. Radiation, bio hazard, health risk... etcetera. SIS and UNIT will try to interrogate you. Know what? If they get too annoying, attack is the best defence! Insist that they give you interviews on all the alien activities lately and question them about that skinny guy who vanished into thin air. That'll scare the hell out of them. And of course a concussion also always comes in handy as an excuse. Especially after the explosion of the gravity generator. Something must have hit your head. Just tell them you have a bad headache." He grinned cheekily. Me too. This sounded like an excellent plan!

The next morning, the Doctor rigged up a teleport with a time difference. He materialized in orbit around earth, just after we had left it heading New New York.

He encouraged me to have a look at my home world from space, so we watched it from behind the safety of the Tardis force-field for a while and I was as awed by my blue home as probably all the astronauts who had seen this spectacular view before me.

Suddenly, taken aback by the realisation that the Doctor would never be able to see his own home again, I closed the doors.

"Something wrong? You don't like it?"

Probably the Time Lord didn't appreciate too much to be treated like a raw egg by me.

"Oh, no. No, it's nothing. I was just lost in thoughts for a moment" I gave him an empathic smile.

"Okay then" He picked up the bucket with sand from a corner of the console hall, mocking a very ceremonial attitude. Then threw handfuls of it at me, gleefully chuckling like a little kid, helping me rubbing it in until he decided that I was satisfactorily dirty.

„See you in a few days then, when they released you."

"Your days or mine?" I asked.

"Oh. I see. You learn fast!" he replied with a grin. "Your days. I just need to see that the army gets rid of the wreck at some atomic test site where it can blow up safely, and then arrange a few things for you. Then I'll drop by at your place. So for me, hm, maybe not as long. This time I won't stand you up! Is there enough space in your apartment to materialize?"

"You see, my apartment is a bit, um... messy... But yes, I can clear up enough space." I gave him the exact location and imagined with horror, the Doctor materializing somewhere between dirty clothes, stacks of books and DVDs, computers and my unwashed dishes... I HAD to clean before he turned up. I sighed. What my mother had never managed, in 27 years, the Doctor now did with ease! Probably she'd love him to pieces, if she knew what he was putting me through.

"One more thing. There are some people down there who know me. You don't reveal anything, to anyone. I'll later introduce you to one or two of them. In the meantime you'll play ignorant. At all cost. Don't you get tempted! You know what's at stake. Right, then..."

He bent over his beloved console and pulled a few levers.

I tried to put up a brave face, but my weak knees must have showed. He interrupted his work. This time I didn't avoid him when he gazed affectionately into my eyes. "David, if you want to keep secrets, I can tell you from my own round about thousand years of experience, there is one crucial point: Enjoy yourself."

I was flabbergasted. That was the most unlikely piece of advice I had ever heard. All my life people had told me to work harder. Pull myself together. Not to be such a sissy... And of course I had revolted against it. Probably still was revolting against it. But it had rubbed off. I knew, somehow, I had internalized a lot more of that, than I wanted to acknowledge.

"Yes, true." He continued very kindly, "If you worry, you get uptight, and if you are too uptight, you'll never pull off a convincing show. You understand? You relax! I know you can do this. I've seen it happen! You looked like a genuinely happy person when I met you. Life is a stage, so play your part and be confident, just never get reckless, okay? It's going to be all right!"

I let that sink in. He was right.

"Ready?"

"Ready! Beam me down, Scotty!"

The Time Lord seemed to understand my joke and grinned mischievously. "Brilliant! See you then! Good luck!"

With those words in my ears, the familiar shapes of the console hall faded. This time the chill of the teleport didn't take me unexpectedly...

...

So, did that plan work? Well, I was more than just a bit naive, back then. Firstly, there's the sheer force of old habits, that is almost as strong and inevitable as gravity itself. My old habits. And then, there's the other lesson I had to learn about the Doctor. That nothing, that involves him is going smooth and easy. But at the same time, it turned out to be a mindblowing adventure.

...

...

...

A little note from the autor:

So that was my little story. A big thank you for reading to the relentless but anonymous readers of my screbblings, who have stayed with me until the end :-)) Or... Not the end, as mentioned above it's not going to be so easy, and there is a sequel in the making.


End file.
